The story of Kirby Kyle, the ill-fated baseball player, is a parody of former Chicago White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton, whose promising career was derailed after he lost part of his leg due to a hunting accident. Stratton attempted a comeback and then retired. His life was made into a movie: The Stratton Story (1949).
Of the music in this film, Woody Allen has said in an interview with Stig Björkman: "It originated from an idea that I wanted to pick out a group of songs that were meaningful to me, and each one of those songs suggested a memory. Then this idea started to evolve: how important radio was to me when I was growing up, and how important and glamorous it seemed to everyone".
The scene where Joe sees a German U-Boat at the beach has some basis in fact. Some U-Boats were sent to America on secret missions and had to enter New York harbor through the Rockaway inlets to get into Lower New York bay.
When the Uncle goes next door to confront the communists, the man screaming about the plight of the "worker" is Larry David, who can be seen in a long shot.
This is the only Woody Allen film in which both of his frequent collaborators and longtime companions Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton appear.