Dianne Wiest said she really struggled with Helen Sinclair's signature line. She finally decided to lower her voice when she said "Don't speak!" The lower she said it, the funnier it became.
According to John Baxter's biography of Woody Allen, Jennifer Tilly was the only member of the cast allowed to ad-lib or add to her lines, an acting impulse which Allen otherwise routinely crushed. She also claims that Allen actually advised her not to allow any other actors to slip into ad-libs but to interrupt them or talk over them instead.
Jennifer Tilly revealed in an interview given in 2017 that, when she found out that Miramax was pushing only Dianne Wiest for the Supporting Actress category at the Oscars, she orchestrated her own campaign in talk shows and buying ads to build buzz around her, which resulted in an Oscar nomination for her as well, something she said that the Weinsteins hated her.
The film takes place from September to October 1928.
This was the first film directed by Woody Allen not to feature Louise Lasser, Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow.