Although filming took place in Richmond, Virginia, the horse-drawn carriage ride took place in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Laura Spencer and Brendan Fehr were both on the television show Bones.
In Wendy's first scene, she enters the theater stage and the music changes to the "Sugarplum Fairy" theme from the Nutcracker Ballet. In the next scene, Tressa tells Wendy that she is going to glam her up as if she is the Sugarplum Fairy and Wendy also tells Adam on the elevator that she is dressed up as the Sugarplum Fairy. The music introduced the theme that came later.
The theatre where they have the Nutcracker play is the Carpenter Theatre in Richmond, Virginia which you can clearly see stated on the front of the theatre, only they have not turned on the lights to light that section, because throughout the movie we are supposed to be in Boston. There are clearly other signs we are not in Boston - like the skyline, the ride by the civil war memorial in the park when they take the carriage ride and the lack of the typical Boston scenes. They could have at least used some stock footage of Boston. There wasn't a single winter scene for a Christmas movie in Boston, Massachusetts. It would be rare not to be at least cold in late November to late December
Director John Stimpson's name is nearly identical as another director that worked with Laura Breckenridge, John Simpson, who worked with her in the horror movie, Amusement (2008).