Harrison Ford was Jacques Demy's first choice for the main character instead of Gary Lockwood, but Columbia didn't want Ford, saying he wouldn't make any money. Demy's wife Agnès Varda shot a screen test of Ford, clips of which are included in her documentary Les plages d'Agnès (2008).
When Lola is telling George about her previous life, she says that Michel would go to Las Vegas to meet a woman named Jackie Demaistre. In a previous Jacques Demy film, La Baie des anges (1963), Jackie Demaistre is the name of a character who is addicted to gambling. The character of Jackie is played by Jeanne Moreau.
The American rock band Spirit composed all of the music for the film's soundtrack. The original members of the band, Mark Andes, Randy California, Ed Cassidy, Jay Ferguson, and John Locke appear on screen.
When George is in the newspaper office talking on the telephone, he closely examines a photograph of Jean-Paul Belmondo. This is an allusion to a scene in the film À bout de souffle (1960), when Belmondo examines a photo of Humphrey Bogart.