Filming took place off of the I-5 Freeway in Newhall, California, near the SR-14 freeway. Don Adams was dressed as a woman and kept flashing his legs at passing truckers.
This movie was the third filmed adaptation of a Donald E. Westlake novel in the English language to feature the Kelp Gang. The first two were 1974's O Mais Louco dos Roubos (1974) and 1972's Os Quatro Picaretas (1972).
Donald E. Westlake's source 1974 novel "Jimmy the Kid" is the third book in Westlake's Dortmunder series. The first was "The Hot Rock" (1970) and the second "Bank Shot" (1972), both of which had been filmed previously. The Dortmunder character appears in eleven short stories and fourteen novels published between the years of 1970 and 2009.
Producer Ronald Jacobs once described this picture's point as being to simply "look, laugh and have a good time".
Publicity for this movie reported that it this was the first New World Pictures title to have a national release break stateside.