The relationship between the Chinese cinematographer, his translator, and Woody Allen's character is loosely based on the relationship between Allen and cinematographer Zhao Fei, who worked together on Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Small Time Crooks (2000), and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001). Allen exaggerated the comic aspect of the relationship.
Haskell Wexler was fired a week into production as he and Woody Allen couldn't agree on how to film certain shots. He was replaced by Wedigo von Schultzendorff. Although one of Hollywood's most respected cinematographers, this is not the first time Wexler has been fired from a production, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) being a notable example.
Even though he doesn't really care about this sort of thing, Woody Allen has declared on several occasions that he thought this film was going to have a better box office result because it was funny and the cast was great and well known.
The film opened the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. It was the first of three Allen films to open Cannes, the other two being Midnight in Paris (2011) and Café Society (2016).
Woody Allen: [credits] opening credits are simple white typeface on black set to early period music.