Author Ira Levin was originally going to write this as a stage play, until he realized there were too many characters and opted to turn it into a novel instead, which the film was based on.
After the movie was released, there was a feminist demonstration against it, decrying it as being sexist. One of the protesters hit director Bryan Forbes over the head with her umbrella. Katharine Ross commented on the incident in the documentary The Stepford Life (2001) about the making of the movie, stating that this was a powerful testimony to how the movie affected the protesters.
During an interview about the film, Paula Prentiss was asked if she thought men secretly want a "perfect" wife. She replied, "The dumb ones do."
When Joanna goes to the city to show her photos at a gallery, the large black and white photo in the gallery window is of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. Under his real name (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), he was a well-known Victorian photographer, especially of children.
Director Bryan Forbes claims that Diane Keaton turned down the role of Joanna the night before signing her contract, because her analyst got "bad vibes" from the script.