Amanda Seyfried remarked that at age 28, when she filmed the role, she actually found it a challenge to play Darby and that she related more to the older characters.
Charles Grodin's character, Leslie Breitbart, is portrayed as a famous documentary filmmaker. In Leslie's apartment, there are fake Criterion Collection DVDs of films "directed" by Leslie, custom-created for this film.
Darby and Josh make a joke about the movie Rosemary's Baby - Nastro rosso a New York (1968). Charles Grodin, who plays Cornelia's father, Leslie, played Rosemary's first gynecologist, Dr. Hill, in Rosemary's Baby.
Peter Yarrow, who plays the documentary subject of Ben Stiller's character, is better-known as the "Peter" in the seminal 1960s folk group Peter Paul & Mary. This is his first acting role in a movie. Coincidentally, Yarrow's classic song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" featured in the soundtracks of Stiller's films Ti presento i miei (2000) and Mi presenti i tuoi? (2004).
The confrontation between Josh and Jamie was shot the way it is because Noah Baumbach wanted it to almost be like a confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty.