Prior to filming, Tom Hanks had not seen Quinteto da Morte (1955), as he did not want it to influence the way he acted in the remake.
Before Professor Dorr starts to go over the plans for the heist in the cellar, he sets Boccherini's Minuet playing as background music. In the 1955 film, Professor Marcus plays a record of the same song repeatedly to convince his landlady that he and his fellow crooks are rehearsing as a string quintet.
Produced by Barry Sonnenfeld, who started out as the cinematographer of the Coen Brother's first three films.
This is the first Coen brothers film where Joel Coen and Ethan Coen are both given directing and producing credits. They have shared these duties on all of their films, but Joel has always been listed as the director, and Ethan as producer. Although they both take turns performing the duties.
All the musical instruments were re-created by guitar maker Danny Ferrington, because, according to him, the owners of authentic antique instruments refused to lend them for the film. The strange "triple guitar" is a "harpolyre," but because it wasn't invented until the 1830s, it isn't historically correct for the Professor's spurious Renaissance band. The long-necked guitar-like instrument is a theorbo, played in late Renaissance and early Baroque music to accompany singing, provide color, and backup the Basso Continuo. Ferrington built it from scratch.