Richard Pryor wrote favorably of his working relationship with Jackie Gleason in his autobiography. He said that the stories Gleason told on set were funnier than anything in the film.
In his E! True Hollywood Story (1996) bio, Scott Schwartz said that the hardest part of making this movie was working with Jackie Gleason. Schwartz was trained to memorize his lines, and Gleason's improvisations threw him off, resulting in Gleason yelling at him.
In the scene at the store when Richard Pryor is inside the wonder wheel (approx 18:55 into movie) you can see a hand and arm trying to slow the wheel down.
The mansion in the movie was Charbonnet House near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It covered 34,000 square feet (3,158 square meters) on 500 acres (202 hectares) of manicured grounds. It had two lakes, one of which covers more than 200 acres (81 hectares) and included fish, herons, and exotic ducks.