Location manager Ron [Ronald M. Quigley] scoured Los Angeles for the right kind of drive-in, only to find that nowhere in the megalopolis was one to be found. The solution was to locate a suitable parking lot and build the eatery to the specifications of the script. On a Brentwood corner lot, production designer Rodger Maus and his art and construction departments built a working drive-in dressed both inside and out with neon and jukeboxes, counter and kitchen. As soon as the building took shape, the local office personnel and residential neighbors began dropping by asking when it would open. They were very disappointed to learn that it wouldn't.
The Beverly Hills mansion was spread over many acres of prime real estate. It seemed as if the sumptuous estate was the house that had everything. When director Blake Edwards looked at it, however, Edwards decided it required another wing that could withstand the action scenes with the SWAT team and the even more destructive Howie Mandel. After the smoke cleared, the owner of the mansion agreed that an extra wing was just what he needed, and had one built to the specifications of the movie set.
Star Howie Mandel took roller-skating lessons before filming began on the movie, and could actually stand up on them by the time the four nights of filming got underway. His training was drastically accelerated about the time he and Rick Ducommun joined the carhops under the tutelage of Phil Gerard, skate instructor, roller-skate choreographer, and hot-dog skiing champion.
The first night of filming at "Dinkie's" resembled a Hollywood premiere of sorts. Since "Dinkie's" was on a busy corner, massive traffic problems had been foreseen, so about eighteen police were on hand to keep traffic flowing and fender-benders to a minimum. Disappointed potential customers were turned away in droves, but among those who dropped by for a hamburger and ended up as guests of old friend Blake Edwards were Richard Quine, who had directed Edwards-written scripts in the 1950s; Ken Wales, former television executive and Edwards associate producer; and screenwriter Frank Waldman, who co-scripted some of the Pink Panther films.
This movie was originally announced as both a starring vehicle for Richard Pryor and Burt Reynolds and to be a remake of Laurel & Hardy's famous short subject The Music Box (1932). The movie's "A Fine Mess" title is a tangential reference to the famous catchphrase of Stan Laurel's comic partner Oliver Hardy who regularly said: "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into' which was used in Another Fine Mess (1930) amongst other of their films and other slight variations of the phrase. According to the website Stan Laurel' and Oliver Hardy dot.com, "although Laurel and Hardy made the 1930 film Another Fine Mess (1930), during their film career neither Mr Laurel nor Mr Hardy never [actually] said 'Another Fine Mess'."