Paul (Will Smith) passes himself off as Sidney Poitier's son. In real-life, when Smith met Poitier for the first time, the veteran actor said, "well, you're almost handsome enough to be my son."
The inspiration for Paul, David Hampton, died of AIDS on July 18, 2003.
Will Smith refused to kiss Anthony Michael Hall just before their kissing scene, so a camera trick was used showing only the backs of their heads. In an interview, Smith stated that Denzel Washington advised him not to kiss a man on-screen, for it would harm his career. Smith stated that he regretted not going through with it, saying, "it was very immature on my part."
The original Broadway production of "Six Degrees of Separation" opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on November 8, 1990, ran for four hundred eighty-five performances, and was nominated for the 1991 Tony Award for Best Play. Stockard Channing reprised her role in this movie, while her fellow Broadway stage actors Kelly Bishop, John Cunningham, and Sam Stoneburner, and Anthony Rapp have cameo roles. Stockard Channing was nominated for the 1991 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. John Guare wrote the stage play and the screenplay for the movie adaptation.
Doug (J.J. Abrams), when looking through the yearbook with the other college children, exclaims "remember Greg Grunberg?" This is a reference to Abrams' childhood friend who he often casts in his own projects.