According to Frank Sinatra Jr. on the DVD commentary, Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier. That hotel was Mrs. Harrison's Boarding House, located in the historic Westside district. The establishment hosted a stellar array of African American entertainers in its day and is now a listed historic building.
Sammy Davis Jr. required wooden blocks attached to the pedals on the garbage truck he drove in the film so that he could reach them.
Significant portions of the movie interactions between major characters were ad-libbed. The actors playing the leading roles all knew each other well and improvised dialogue as good as or better than the script.
One of the most difficult tasks facing the film's production team was actually convincing Nevada's Clark County officials to let them use one of their garbage trucks.
Most filming was accomplished early in the morning, before sunrise, since most of the actors also had shows in Las Vegas that they performed nightly during the shooting. The actors would wake up in the afternoon, do one or two shows in the evening, then go through make-up and arrive at the shooting locations for principal photography. Each shooting location was fully set up in advance so that minimal time would be wasted once the actors arrived.