The musical number "The Continental" lasts 17 1/2 minutes, the longest number ever in a musical until Gene Kelly's 18 1/2-minute ballet at the end of An American in Paris (1951) 17 years later. It is also the longest musical number in all of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' films together.
This was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, "The Continental". Oscar statuettes were won by Con Conrad (music) and Herb Magidson (lyrics) as 1934 was the first year when an Oscar for this category was introduced.
The stage musical on which this movie was based was titled "Gay Divorce," but because of objections from the censor, the title of the film was changed to "The Gay Divorcee." A divorcee might possibly be happy, but it was felt that the institution of divorce itself could never be.
After Flying Down to Rio (1933), Fred Astaire was reluctant to make a second movie with Ginger Rogers. He had previously been part of a dance duo with his sister, Adele Astaire, but wanted to establish himself as a solo dancer. Astaire sent a note to his agent about Rogers. "I don't mind making another picture with her, but as for this team idea, it's out! I've just managed to live down one partnership and I don't want to be bothered with any more." But when the critics praised the Astaire-Rogers pairing in "Rio," Astaire was persuaded, and he and Rogers made the second film in their partnership, this one.