Michael Keaton came up with much of the character's look himself. Keaton told the makeup department he wanted mold on his face and his hair looking as if he'd stuck his finger in an electric socket, and he requested that the wardrobe department send him clothes from all different time periods.
The studio originally wanted to call the film "House Ghosts." As a joke, Tim Burton suggested the name "Scared Sheetless" and was horrified when the studio actually considered using it.
Director Tim Burton feared the "Day-O" sequence wouldn't go over well since, in his opinion, it wasn't very funny. Burton turned out to be wrong. Audiences loved it and think of it as one of the film's most iconic scenes.
Tim Burton: [Le Cabinet du docteur Caligari (1920)] The production design of the underworld is inspired by this classic German Expressionist film.
Tim Burton: [Stanley Kubrick] Opening aerial shot of a Volkswagen traveling through hills is similar to a scene in Shining (1980).
Tim Burton: [classical music] The tune Charles whistles just before he begins bird watching is from Franz von Suppé's "Light Cavalry Overture." Juno's beeper (or alarm) sound on her watch is from Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March (Sonata Op. 35, movement 3).