According to Deadline, before accepting the role of Russell Bufalino, Joe Pesci refused multiple times to come out of retirement in order to appear in this film. Some sources say the actual number of refusals was fifty.
The house that appears at the beginning of the film is the same house that appears in Buenos muchachos (1990).
Robert De Niro wanted the film to retain the same title as the book, "I Heard You Paint Houses".
Stephen Graham was extremely nervous during the scene in which he and Al Pacino debate how late his character was for a meeting. Stephen thought, 'I'm in a scene with Robert De Niro and he says nothing. Shit!' This led him to improvise in another take the line 'What do you think Frank?' to Robert De Niro's character. Much to Stephen's delight, De Niro improvised the line, '12 and a half.'
"I heard you paint houses" were the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran. On The Tonight Show, Robert De Niro remarked that the term, along with "I also do my own carpentry work," refer to both the hit and the clean-up.