In the DVD bonus features, Nanette Fabray stated that Oscar Levant was difficult to work with. Whenever something would go wrong or he would make a mistake, he would blame whoever was around. This included stage hands, other actors, lighting technicians, or whoever was handy. She said that, since she was usually closest, she caught the brunt of it. Following a botched take, he again blamed her for something. She lost her temper and told him off using unladylike language. Everyone on the set applauded. After that, he was much easier to work with.
The movie reflects one real-life situation. Fred Astaire was conscious of the height differential with his dance partners, and none of the others was as tall as Cyd Charisse. In "The Girl Hunt Ballet," Charisse is wearing medium height heels, and Fred is wearing a hat which offsets and hides the height difference.
Betty Comden and Adolph Green made the characters played by Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant a married couple because they felt that the audiences would not accept a male/female writing team who weren't married to each other, even though the characters were based on Comden and Green, who were not married to each other.
Choreographer Michael Kidd was terrified of showing Fred Astaire his ideas for the Girl Hunt ballet because they were the antithesis of the persona that Astaire usually had - that of an elegant man in top hat, white tie, and tails. It turned out Astaire loved all Kidd's ideas and even suggested some of his own.
Leroy Daniels, who plays the bootblack dancing with Astaire in the "Shine On Your Shoes" number, was a real shoeshine who worked in downtown Los Angeles, as well as a veteran comedian and dancer from the Chitlin' Circuit. He was partly the inspiration for the song "Chattanooga Shoe-Shine Boy." A friend of Redd Foxx, he made numerous comedy albums in the 1960s, and made a cameo appearance as himself on "Sanford & Son."