The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet that performs in Disneyland's Main Street USA, make a special appearance as the voices of the singing busts.
Much of the movie's plot is inspired by Phantom Manor, the version of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Resort Paris. Unlike the Haunted Mansions in the other parks, Phantom Manor has a clear storyline of a bride, her lost lover, and her haunting the mansion. It later became the basis of the short film Phantom Manor - The Bride's song (2026).
Eddie Murphy had developed a stand-up routine lampooning the unrealistic premise of horror movies, specifically haunted houses. In Eddie Murphy: Delirious (1983), he suggested that black people would never be featured in such a movie because they would leave as soon as they saw anything supernatural.
Originally, Don Knotts was cast as the Groundskeeper seen at the entrance to the cemetery in the ride. Like in the ride, the character was a living resident of the mansion and he is the one who subtly warns the Evers about the dangers of the place but was cut as the script developed. However, both the Groundskeeper and his faithful, fearful dog were instead retained, and are depicted as ghosts populating the cemetery in the film.
The chairs in the dining room were later added to both the Disneyland Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions. In the Haunted Mansion, the chair appears in a portrait of the updated attic, belonging to one of the bride's murdered husbands. In both the updated versions of the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom Pirates attractions, it is in the final treasure room scene as the chair Captain Jack Sparrow is sitting in.
Corey Burton: The "Welcome foolish mortals" voice-over during the opening titles. Burton also voiced the Ghost Host for Haunted Mansion Holiday (2008), a seasonal overlay of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction themed to The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
Deep Roy: In the beginning when Jim walks into the Hawaiian bar to get the papers signed you can see Deep Roy sitting at the bar. He appears later as one of the Hitchhiking Ghosts.