Verdoux's quote "One murder makes a villain; millions a hero" is taken from the abolitionist Bishop Beilby Porteus (1731-1808).
The film was a colossal box-office flop on its 1947 release, despite being ardently championed by writer-critic James Agee, who considered Sir Charles Chaplin's acting performance the greatest male performance he had ever seen in films.
Based on real-life convicted French murderer Henri Désiré Landru, who was executed by guillotine in 1922.
Sir Charles Chaplin bought the idea for the film from Orson Welles for $5,000. Welles had been contemplating making a dramatized documentary of the real story of French serial killer Henri Landru.
The film originated with Orson Welles, who approached Charles Chaplin about starring in it, but Chaplin refused, saying that he only wanted to appear in films directed by himself. However, he was intrigued by the idea and instead bought the idea from Welles and re-wrote it; Welles had written a very rough draft which was greatly altered and was credited only with the "idea". Welles later said that Chaplin's script had been "much less funny" and that he had only gained his credit when Chaplin had realized that the film was going to be widely disliked, and thus wanted to have someone else take at least part of the blame.