Woody Allen felt that he had been too "nice" to the characters in the end of Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), so he wrote this film as a response to those feelings.
The role of Professor Louis Levy, the subject of director Cliff Stern (Woody Allen)'s documentary in this film, is played by a non-actor and a therapist friend of Woody Allen, the world-renowned Martin Bergmann, Clinical Professor of Psychology in the New York University's post-doctoral program.
Woody Allen has said of this film: "Crimes And Misdemeanors is about people who don't see. They don't see themselves as others see them. They don't see the right and wrong situations. And that was a strong metaphor in the movie".
Lester is based on Larry Gelbart, whom both Woody Allen and Alan Alda worked with and reportedly disliked because of his despotic ways. Lester's various comments such as "Comedy is tragedy plus time" and "If it bends, it's funny; if it breaks, it isn't" were actual Gelbart quotes. In spite of this reputed dislike for Gelbart, Allen called him "the best comedy writer that I ever knew and one of the best guys" in a statement shortly following Gelbart's death, whilst Alda said in the Los Angeles Times obituary, "Larry's genius for writing changed my life because I got to speak his lines - lines that were so good they'll be with us for a long, long time; but his other genius - his immense talent for being good company - is a light that's gone out and we're all sitting here in the dark".
Woody Allen has said of the public reaction to this picture: "When I put out a film that enjoys any acceptance that isn't the most mild or grudging, I immediately become suspicious of it. A certain amount of positive response makes me feel comfortable and proud. Then beyond that, I start to feel convinced that a work of any real finesse and subtlety and depth couldn't be as popular as it is".