Tatum O'Neal was ten years old when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this movie, making her the youngest person ever to win an Oscar in a competitive category. As of 2025, she still holds this record. She was four years younger than her rival nominee, Linda Blair, in El exorcista (1973).
Based on the book Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, published only two years earlier in 1971. Peter Bogdanovich didn't like the title of the novel "Addie Pray", but wasn't sure whether "Paper Moon" was good enough; so he asked his mentor Orson Welles what he thought about it. Welles replied, "That title is so good, you shouldn't even make the picture, just release the title!" After the film's release, the book's printed title was also updated to Paper Moon.
When Tatum O'Neal won her Oscar, Peter Bogdanovich admitted that she won for the wrong category. Most people think she should have won Best Actress In A Leading Role instead of Supporting Role.
Orson Welles, a close friend of director Peter Bogdanovich, did some uncredited consulting on the cinematography. It was Welles who suggested shooting black and white photography through a red filter, thus adding higher contrast to the images.