Malcolm McDowell (Paul) revealed that the scene where he leaps on the bed in a cat like fashion was shot with him jumping off the bed, and walking backward all the way out of the room and down the stairs. The film was then reversed. This technique was presumably also used for the scene where Paul executes a kick-up from the floor, then jumps to the balcony rail before dropping to the ground to pursue Irena.
Apparently, director Paul Schrader regretted using the 'Cat People' title after negative reaction to this movie occurred comparing it with the original La marca de la pantera (1942).
A story goes that director Paul Schrader and lead actress Nastassja Kinski had an affair during the production of this movie. Schrader fell in love and planned to propose marriage to Kinski at the wrap party, but she didn't show up and cut off all communication with him. After three months Schrader finally tracked Kinski down in Paris, where she bluntly told him, "Paul, I always fuck my directors. And with you it was difficult". Kinski refuted this story in a 2001 interview with The Daily Telegraph.
Reportedly, explicit frontal nude scenes of Nastassja Kinski were shot during production. Kinski requested of the producer Ned Tanen that this nude footage not be included in the movie. A version of this story is summarized in the book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" by Peter Biskind.
By his own admission, director Paul Schrader says that one day he got so stoned on set that he refused to come out of his trailer. A whole day's filming was lost.