Detochkin, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy's character, plays Hamlet in an amateur production. Smoktunovskiy himself played Hamlet in Hamlet (1964), and is famous for this role.
Yuriy Nikulin was first considered to play Yuriy Detochkin and almost signed the contract, but his Circus sent him on tour to South America for almost half a year. The project could not be postponed for such a long period, so Oleg Efremov was invited, but after long debates the role was given to Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, and Efremov became Maksim Podberyozovikov.
American cars can be spotted in the petrol station scene: a 1955 Buick and a 1955 Oldsmobile.
The scene where Detochkin holding flowers in a back seat of a police car between two policemen is escorted following the performance duplicates the last scene from A Pantera Cor-de-Rosa (1963).
According to Eldar Ryazanov, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy's candidacy for the role of Detochkin arose back in 1962: "But only in this respect: it would be nice ..." - at that time Smoktunovskiy was filming in Hamlet, and it was difficult to count on him. Then for the main role Yuriy Nikulin was approved, for the role of his antagonist, investigator Maksim Podberyozovikov - Yuriy Yakovlev.