In the television broadcast scene, John Bird shares a scene with his frequent co-star John Fortune in an interview set-up very similar to those they did on several satirical television shows.
In Britain, this played on a double bill with the Elliott Gould comedy-drama Getting Straight (1970).
Jonathan Miller had had great success as a satirical comedian and later as a stage director, rather like his friend Mike Nichols in America. Miller had also directed some films for television which had attracted some acclaim as well as considerable controversy. He freely admitted that when he was approached about making this film, his first thought was, "Mike Nichols has just made a lot of money directing films, why shouldn't I?" - a reason he subsequently called reprehensible. The filming began in the Spring of 1969 and took rather longer than anyone had anticipated, also going over budget. Miller had ferocious disagreements with his producer, Hal E. Chester, who was notorious for interfering in the work of his directors and who wanted a rather more conventional type of British comedy than Miller had envisaged. Chester imposed certain actors on Miller in prominent roles and later insisted on putting a lot of pop music on the soundtrack and re-editing the film somewhat. The result was liked by no-one, and did not open in British cinemas until the start of 1971, Miller was never tempted to attempt commercial film-making again.
Second and final screenwriting credit of the jazz singer and broadcaster George Melly.