Woody Allen has always strenuously denied that the film is autobiographical. Allen has said in the book "Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation with Stig Björkman" (1994): "[Critics] thought that the lead character was me. Not a fictional character but me. Not a fictional character but me, and that I was expressing hostility towards my audience. That was in no way the point of the film. It was about a character who is obviously having a sort of nervous breakdown and, in spite of success, has come to a point in his life where he is having a bad time".
This was the only film directed by Woody Allen between स्लीपर (1973) and Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) in which neither Diane Keaton nor Mia Farrow appear.
Working title for this film was "Woody Allen No. 4". Allen told an interviewer that "I am not even half of the Fellini of 8½ (1963)".
The enlarged-photo-themed wallpaper in Sandy's apartment changed to offer reflections on or counterpoints to the scenes in which they appear. In the scene where Sandy & Dorrie are arguing about his flirting with her 13-year-old cousin it shows a newspaper headline that reads "Incest betw... fathers and..."