Diana Barrie (Dame Maggie Smith) says that she wishes David Niven could accept her award for her because he would be witty and charming. In the play on which the movie is based, the character says "Michael Caine," but it was changed when Caine was cast as her husband.
The play featured four acts with the four main actors and actresses doubling-up, playing two or three parts each. In this movie version ten actors and actresses play the ten main roles.
Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Michael Caine's scenes arriving at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Oscars were filmed before The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978). Herbert Ross, who shot the scenes outside, was nominated that year as Best Director for The Turning Point (1977), but lost. Caine and Smith were presenters on the night. In fact, if one stares at the television during their pre-bar scene an image of Richard Burton (nominated that year) is on the screen.
According to an interview with Dame Maggie Smith on 60 Minutes (1968), director Herbert Ross was very difficult to work with. She also stated that she was told that Ross reduced Walter Matthau to tears.
Diana Barrie (Dame Maggie Smith) was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award, but lost it. However, Smith won a Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for portraying Barrie, an Oscar loser. In another coincidental twist Smith stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel while attending the Academy Awards ceremony just like the character Barrie. Also, Smith is the only actress to win an Oscar for playing an Oscar nominee/Oscar loser. Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for playing four-time Academy Award Winner Katharine Hepburn.
James Coburn: Uncredited, as the pilot in Diana Barrie's (Dame Maggie Smith) in-flight movie on the airplane.