The film within a film 'Girls And Suitcases' is loosely based on Pedro Almodóvar's own film Frauen am Rande des Nervenzusammenbruchs (1988). Rossy De Palma appears in both, although in different roles.
The photograph featured in the film of Harry and Lena embracing on Golfo Beach in Lanzarote has its roots in a real life photograph Pedro Almodóvar took of Golfo Beach whilst there in 2000. When he had the photograph developed, the director saw at the bottom of the photo a couple he hadn't noticed on the day embracing. "I felt that the couple hid a secret", he said later. "The whole island was holding a secret. I had to unveil that secret."
In an interview with El País in March 2009, Pedro Almodóvar revealed that the idea for the lip reader played by Lola Dueñas came from watching the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Asturias on Spain's Telecinco, where the services of a lip reader were employed by the channel to relay what the couple were saying to each other as they stood at the altar.
Pedro Almodóvar has said that one of the reasons he decided to hire cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is because he knew the movie was going to be colorful, and Mexicans are not afraid of colors when it comes to be visual.
One of key characters - Harry Caine is writing a script which is called "Madres Paralelas" (you can see this title coming from a typewriter in the beginning of the movie) and then a poster of the same movie title appears on the wall in his office scene.
Agustín Almodóvar: Pedro Almodóvar's brother, and the film's producer, appears as an employee of Ernesto Martel, in the scene where Lena returns from hospital. Agustín has cameos in 20 of the 23 films which Pedro Almodóvar has directed (as of 2024).
Pedro Almodóvar: [red cars] the main characters drive a red car, which features prominently in the plot. In this film is a 1991 Opel Corsa A.