When Pedro Almodóvar sent Tilda Swinton the script, he asked her who should play Ingrid. Both of them had Julianne Moore in mind.
It was filmed in New York and Echo Lake Park, New Jersey. Nevertheless, the majority of principal photography was shot in Casa Szoke, Spain. The house was chosen because it's surrounding resembled a Woodstock, NY forest. The location is one hour drive from Madrid.
The short story The Dead, from James Joyce's Dubliners, is explicitly referenced three times throughout the film. One of these references appears through the final images of the eponymous film, directed by John Huston in 1987