According to contemporary news stories, special parental consent was required in order to allow the nude scenes featuring Michelle Johnson, as she was not yet eighteen at the time they were filmed. Publicity for this movie also stated that Johnson was around two months out of high school when she was cast.
The theatrical movie poster, featuring the rear view of a girl in a "Brazilian cut" bikini caused such a stir that an altered, airbrushed version of the same poster with a less revealing bikini was issued.
Michelle Johnson said during a 1984 interview that it wasn't until after she was cast that she learned her role involved total nudity. "My parents were a bit concerned about it and I was too," she said. "I always wanted to have a career (in film) and I wanted to make the right moves at the right time. So we read the script and we talked to Stanley to find out exactly what his intentions were for the film. My parents looked into Stanley's reputation and seemed satisfied because he makes such quality films." Johnson said she was incredibly nervous the first time she took her clothes off and stood around naked in front of the cast and mostly male crew. It was like hundreds of eyes were all staring at her exposed body. But once the camera started rolling, she was fine. "When I was being Jennifer, when I was really focused in on that character, I wasn't aware that I was topless or completely naked in those scenes. That was the last thing on my mind because I was so focused. But the minute Stanley said "cut' I was immediately aware that I was standing in front of 20 or 30 people with no clothes on and I picked up a robe and ran to my room."
Michelle Johnson said she didn't even know who Michael Caine was when she was invited to audition. "This was so embarrassing," she said in an interview when the film was released. "So I called a friend who's older than me. She goes to movies a lot. And she said, "Oh, that's that Kung Fu guy.' She was getting him mixed up with David Carradine. I immediately went out and saw Alfie (1966) and L'uomo che volle farsi re (1975) and Gli insospettabili (1972). I was very nervous at the audition, especially after seeing those movies."
Yvette Mimieux and her then-husband, Stanley Donen, saw the original French movie In a In a Wild Moment (1977) -aka Un moment d'égarement -in Santa Monica, California, and decided that they wanted to remake it, and quickly optioned the property for an American version, which became this movie. In 2015, a French remake called Un momento di follia (2015) was released.