According to Roger Ebert's audio commentary on the DVD, Russ Meyer was unaware that this film would get an "X" rating. Fox executives had intended for the film to be a hard "R," and Meyer omitted significant amounts of nudity and sex from the final edit. Ebert says that Meyer wanted to add much of the excised footage back into the edit following the MPAA's "X" rating, but there wasn't enough time to do so.
Budgeted at a modest $900,000 (approximately $4.5 million in 2005 dollars), the film grossed ten times the amount in the US market, qualifying it as a hit for the beleaguered 20th Century-Fox. Though tame by modern standards, "Dolls" was slapped with an "X" rating, and there was much negative publicity generated by the fact a major studio had allowed a "pornographer", Russ Meyer (labeled "King Leer" by the mainstream press at the time) to make a Hollywood film under its aegis. Grace Kelly, who was a member of the board of directors of Fox, was outraged and lobbied to have the studio's contract with Meyer terminated. After his next Fox film, Os Sete Minutos (1971) flopped at the box office (possibly due to its LACK of nudity and titillation), the studio terminated its relationship with Meyer. He never made another film for a studio.
Frequently touted as Pam Grier's film debut. She received an on-screen credit and a photo of her in the first party scene was prominently featured in a 1970 Playboy layout on the film. Her one line of dialogue was cut, and she only briefly appears in the party scene in one shot as an extra. Marcia McBroom was roommates with Grier at the time and got her a role when she was cast in the film.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock is one of several bands, including the fictional Carrie Nations, that appear on the soundtrack for this film. Strawberry Alarm Clock's only big hit "Incense and Peppermints" can be heard in the first party scene.
The character of Ronnie (Z-Man) Barzell was loosely based on legendary record producer Phil Spector. Whilst neither Russ Meyer nor Roger Ebert had ever met Spector, they were told by Spector's acquaintances that they captured his essence very well.