Prior to the release of Il grande Gatsby (1974), Paramount Pictures chose not to produce new distribution prints of Il grande Gatsby (1949), aiming to discourage theaters from showing earlier adaptations instead of their upcoming release. By that time, existing prints of the 1949 film had either deteriorated or disappeared. In 2012, the Film Noir Foundation, which specializes in locating and preserving rare or missing films, contacted Universal Pictures and urged them to create a new distribution print. After locating the film in their archives, Universal struck a new print, which premiered at the Noir City Festival in San Francisco and at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood in 2012.
Actor Howard Da Silva, who portrays car mechanic George Wilson, later appeared in Il grande Gatsby (1974) as the gangster Meyer Wolfsheim. In the 1950s, Da Silva became one of hundreds of artists blacklisted in the entertainment industry during the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HUAC) investigation into alleged Communist influence in the industry.
The original director was John Farrow. He was replaced with Elliott Nugent as he and producer Richard Maibaum could not agree on the casting of Daisy Buchanan. Farrow wanted to cast Gene Tierney whereas Maibaum favored Betty Field. Twenty-five years later, Farrow's daughter Mia Farrow played Daisy in Il grande Gatsby (1974) .
Following a popular revival of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel during World War II, Paramount Pictures announced a new film version in mid-1946 with the script to be written by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume. However, censor Eric Johnston of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) refused to permit any new motion pictures depicting the licentious Jazz Age. "The Johnston Office seems to be afraid of starting a new jazz cycle," Maibaum complained to the press in 1946. Nearly half-a-decade passed before the censors allowed the film to begin production. To appease the censors, the film's screenplay removed any objectionable elements and added moralizing touches which greatly diverged from Fitzgerald's novel.
The only film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel produced under the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code enforced between 1934 to 1968. The Great Gatsby (1926), Il grande Gatsby (1974), and Il grande Gatsby (2013) were all made without the Code's draconian restrictions regarding immoral content.