The name of the exotic Greek locale in Mykonos made famous by this movie is Agios Ioannis Beach situated at Agios Ioannis Bay. The location has been nick-named the "Shirley Valentine Beach".
The movie was made by the same team that brought L'éducation de Rita (1983) to the screen. The film was the second of two collaborations of playwright Willy Russell and director Lewis Gilbert who had six years earlier made L'éducation de Rita (1983).
A rarity in film, Pauline Collins' character Shirley sporadically engages the cinema audience by looking straight into the camera as she voices her thoughts, a technique called "breaking the fourth wall". Curiously enough, the film's director Lewis Gilbert earlier directed Michael Caine as the titular Alfie le dragueur (1966) in which he also spoke his thoughts directly to the viewer.
At the dinner table when Shirley asks Jeanette where she thinks her Jacuzzi came from in the English version she says "MFI" but the U.S. version it is dubbed to "Kmart."