Thirteen-year-old Sir Daniel Day-Lewis made his screen debut in this film as a teenage street vandal. He described his first acting experience, in which he was paid £2 to vandalize expensive cars parked outside his local church in Petersfield, Hampshire, as "heaven".
Several actresses (including Edith Evans and Thora Hird) politely refused the part of Glenda Jackson's mother, Mrs. Greville, because they thought the project was too risqué. Peggy Ashcroft accepted after the director explained to her the elements of the story, and she gladly signed on.
In John Eastman's 1989 book 'Retakes: Behind the Scenes of 500 Classic Movies', it says that Peter Finch and Murray Head were the only people on the set who were not disturbed when it came time for them to do the kissing scene. Finch has been quoted as saying, "I did it for England."
In his David Bowie biography, former manager Kenneth Pitt writes that Bowie auditioned for the part of Bob Elkin.
During an April 2019 interview with Terry Gross on the National Public Radio program "Fresh Air", Glenda Jackson said that the screenplay for this film "was instantly the best film script I've ever read."