When NBC broadcast the movie in 1995, Barbra Streisand called the network mid-movie to request they lower the volume on the commercials, which were loud compared to the relatively quiet movie. The weekend operations manager obliged, reducing them 2 decibels.
Chris O'Donnell, who would soon become a star in Scent of a Woman, won the role of Streisand's teenage son, Bernard, but Pat Conroy didn't think he was right. Looking through photos of other young actors, he picked one out, telling Streisand that she should hire him instead. The actor was Streisand's own son, Jason Gould.
Although playing a world-renowned violin player, Jeroen Krabbé didn't play the violin himself. He showed the piece he was supposed to play in the film to two professional players, who also had some difficulty to learn it. However, when they did, Krabbé watched them play it and learned their every movement by heart, which he copied perfectly while filming the scene. Barbra Streisand was so impressed by his performance that she spontaneously hugged him after shooting the scene.
Although she didn't receive on-screen credit for it, Barbra Streisand was one of the screenwriters of the film. In an article in US Magazine in 1992, Prince of Tides author Pat Conroy said: "It was that kind of amazing attention Barbra gave to detail. She put her mark on everything...I've never seen anyone go through a total immersion in a project like she does...I mean, here is how much input I had on the script --- I think Barbra actually wrote it. She certainly wrote more of it than I did...she should have taken a screenwriting credit on it."
Robert Redford initially acquired the film rights and was planning to star and direct himself. He had even considered Streisand for the Lowenstein role, but was having trouble getting a satisfactory script together. When Streisand seemed more enthusiastic than he was, Redford relinquished the film rights to her.