With its Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay, the film is (as of 2024) the only short film to win an Academy Award outside of the short film categories.
This film had one of the largest non-theatrical runs in the history of American cinema. Thousands of 16-millimeter prints were distributed to schools across the country.
This film short won the Best Writing, Original Screenplay Oscar for its only Academy Award nomination. It is the shortest film to win a major Academy Award.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, even though it has little dialogue.
The opening location is on Rue Piat, Belleville, Paris. The buildings and steps are now gone and are now part of Belleville Park. The same spot can be seen in Casque d'Or (1952) and Under the Paris Sky (1951).