The name Deux Soeurs is displayed at the perfume counter where Tish works. Deux Soeurs is not a known parfumerie, but Deux Soeurs, LLC is credited as the film's copyright holder. The story also features two pairs of sisters, "two sisters" which is what deux soeurs translates into in French.
The title is a reference to the 1916 W.C. Handy blues song "Beale Street Blues", named after Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The song is on the Louis Armstrong album "Louis Armstrong Plays W.C." from 1954.
For light, Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton looked at Roy DeCarava's work: "We wanted to translate Baldwin[James Baldwin]'s language and Harlem's clean energy into visual writing and photography."
Sound is very important to Barry Jenkins who was a student of sound engineer Richard Portman during his film studies. The latter is known to have developed with Robert Altman the "multitrack" device. The director details the work done by Onnalee Blank, the sound editing supervisor, and Mathew Waters, the mixer his re-recordings.
The first trailer was released on August 2, 2018, which would have been the 94th birthday of novelist James Baldwin.