Besuch auf einem kleinen Planeten

Gore Vidal, who wrote the original play, was extremely upset with the choice of Jerry Lewis as the lead in the movie version. On Broadway Vidal's play ran for 388 performances between Feb 7, 1957-Jan 11, 1958 and won Cyril Ritchard, originator of the Kreton character, a 1957 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in Play. However, Lewis was a star, 12 times named to the Top Ten list of Box Office Stars, six times with partner Dean Martin (with whom he was the top star of 1952), and six times solo (ranking as high as #3 in 1958). He got the part.

During the Hungry Brain sequence, the jazz band's trumpet player is shown playing with his horn "open" (unmuted), but the trumpeter heard on the soundtrack is using a mute.

Featured in E.T. and Friends: Magical Movie Visitors (1982)