Estelle Getty originated the role of Ma Beckoff on Broadway. She was unavailable filming The Golden Girls (1985) as Sophia, Dorothy's mother, to reprise the part for the movie so Anne Bancroft was cast instead.
Writer Harvey Fierstein wanted to highlight the work of drag artist Charles Pierce, so he wrote the character of Bertha Venation especially for him.
The original Broadway production of "Torch Song Trilogy" by Harvey Fierstein opened at the Little Theater in New York on 10th June 1982, and ran for 1222 performances, until it closed on 10th May 1985. The play won the Tony Awards in 1983 for both Best Play and Best Actor in a Play.
In the movie, when Alan first wakes up in Arnold's house and sees the kitchen, he notices some rabbit figurines and collectibles as decoration. In a 1983 interview in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy dressing room, he points out his own rabbit collection he's accumulated because people kept giving him rabbit-themed gifts. This is one of the many nods in the movie to Harvey's own life and his similarity to Arnold.