During the dinner scene at Grand Central Station, the background music that is playing is an instrumental version of the Christopher Cross song, "Arturo (1981)'s Theme (Best That You Can Do)".
While sulking in his Batmobile after Hobson (Dame Helen Mirren) gives him an aspirin and vitamin, Arthur (Russell Brand) scrolls through his phone to look for Naomi's number and we briefly see Katy Perry, Brand's then-wife, listed as a contact.
In the final scene, where there is a collection of movie cars, the car displayed on the far right is the Rolls-Royce from Arturo (1981).
Ricky Gervais turned down the lead role. He told the press, "I said 'no' straight-away. Why would I mess with a perfect comedy? They know people don't watch films that have the wrong font - it's got an '80s font".
Arthur states his father died at the age of forty-four in an homage to Steve Gordon, who directed Arturo (1981), and also died at the age of forty-four.