The poster parodies at the end are all of movies from Warner Bros., New Line Cinema or Turner Entertainment. The filmmakers originally conceived of parodies of other famous films, such as Tutti insieme appassionatamente (1965) and Guerre stellari (1977), but abandoned them because they would've had to pay licensing fees.
Warner Bros., which got distribution rights after acquiring Turner Pictures (I), made very little effort to promote the film. The only merchandising was a Subway tie-in. According to the Los Angeles Times, 15 people (including a family of five) attended the first matinee screening at a theater in Pasadena, California. Producer David Kirschner told the Times he was "devastated" by the film's performance, adding that it "got great reviews and great exit polls. And no one knew it was out there."
The film is inspired by Gene Kelly's life. Kelly served at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for most of his musical career. The film features Mammoth Pictures , a parody of MGM, complete with Louis B Mammoth being a tribute to MGM's co-founder Louis B. Mayer and the Mammoth Pictures logo being based on the MGM logo but with an elephant in the logo.
The film was initially announced in June 1993 as a production of Lost Boys, owned by Michael Jackson and David Kirschner. Jackson would have starred, scored, and choreographed the film, a combination of live action and CGI. That version never made it to the screen.
The is Turner Feature Animation's last film. During production, Ted Turner sold all of his companies to Time Warner, and Turner Feature Animation was absorbed into Warner Bros. Feature Animation.