Hoping to piggyback on the publicity surrounding Woody Allen's breakup with Mia Farrow, TriStar opened the film on 865 screens, the largest number ever given over to a Woody Allen picture. They were rewarded with an opening weekend of 3.52 million dollars, the biggest ever for an Allen film.
Woody Allen said in an interview that the reason he shot the film the way he did was that he wanted to break the usual rules of filmmaking. He cut scenes right in the middle of dialog, he used hand held cameras for no particular reason and did not care if he showed the side or the back of a performer's head during a scene. Allen said for this reason, he felt this film was one of his best.
Woody Allen wanted to shoot the film in 16mm to give the feel of a documentary to the viewer, but TriStar was against this, and made him shoot in 35mm.
Jane Fonda was originally offered the role of Sally. However, talks broke down when Fonda and Woody Allen disagreed on the aesthetics of the character.
Nora Ephron: As a dinner party guest. Ephron previously performed a cameo in an earlier Woody Allen film as a wedding guest in Crimini e misfatti (1989).