First mainstream Hollywood film to use the word "virgin," after a battle with the official and unofficial censors. Also the first use of "seduce" and "mistress" (as a sexual partner). The movie was banned from theaters in Boston for using these words.
Director Otto Preminger simultaneously shot English language and German language versions of this film on the same sets. The German version was titled, Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach (1953) ("The Virgin on the Roof"). The stars of the German version, Johanna Matz and Hardy Krüger, appear in "The Moon Is Blue" as the young couple that speaks to William Holden on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Holden and Maggie McNamara make cameos in the same roles in the German version.
Maggie McNamara's film debut. She had previously played the lead role of Patty O'Neill in "The Moon Is Blue" on stage in Chicago.
Featured in the M*A*S*H episode "The Moon Is Not Blue", where Hawkeye and BJ try to obtain the picture for camp movie night because of its reported racy subject matter.
Otto Preminger declined his producer and director salaries in exchange for 75% of the film's profits.