Production designer Peter Jamison was having trouble finding the right kind of house to match Barry Levinson's exact specifications, namely a three-storey wooden structure with a little lawn, set back from the road, and in need of a new frame. Levinson told him to go to 4211 Springdale Avenue, Baltimore, which was the house where he grew up.
The exterior for the Life Magazine scam scene was writer-director Barry Levinson's childhood home in Baltimore.
After becoming frustrated with professional performance in his 20s, Rodney Dangerfield quit comedy for several years, got married and moved to the suburbs where he claimed to have made a living as an aluminum siding salesman. According to "The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy" by Kliph Nesteroff, Dangerfield was, in fact, a real life "tin man" and was investigated by the FBI for unethical, fraudulent sales practices; which was even reported in the newspaper under his birth name (Jake Cohen) and initial stage name (Jack Roy). Although he avoided jail time or sentencing, Nesteroff speculates that his return to comedy and name change were both at least partially motivated to distance himself from the investigation.
Some movie posters for this film featured a long blurb that read: "The Year - 1963. Selling the American Dream is a risky, funny business - you could wind up paying with your wife!"
Actor Michael Tucker played the same character of Bagel that he had portrayed in Barry Levinson's earlier film American Diner (1982) around five years earlier.
Barry Levinson: [Ralph Tabakin] Ralph (Mr. Hudson) has appeared in every Levinson picture from American Diner (1982) to Liberty Heights (1999).