According to Jackie Earle Haley, when Jean-Louis Trintignant slaps him in the face, Trintignant really slapped him hard. Two takes were filmed and Trintignant slapped for real both times.
The French crew came to Los Angeles to prepare another movie, but the project collapsed. They decided to do a movie anyway, so the script for this film was written in 12 days and shot while the crew's work visas were still valid.
There were two minor incidents during shooting--director Jacques Deray had to tell Ann-Margret's husband to leave the set between and during the takes, and Roy Scheider broke his leg.
The villa where the first killing takes place belonged to "James Bond" franchise producer: Albert R. Broccoli. He agreed to let it be used for filming on the condition that the crew be careful when using the estate's ornate entrance gate, which had been custom-made for him in Florence, Italy. Sure enough, a truck loaded with equipment damaged the gate, which had to eventually be sent back to Italy to e repaired. The production's insurance covered the cost.
The production rented an estate in Beverly Hills to house the crew. It had previously belonged to Greta Garbo and then to Jean Negulesco.