John Steinbeck opens an O. Henry volume at the start of each segment, and the viewers are shown the first one or two paragraphs of the upcoming story's first page. However, only the introductions to "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Gift of the Magi" show exactly what O. Henry wrote at the start of that tale. What is shown prior to the other three yarns is similar to, but not exactly, O. Henry's actual opening words.
After preview critics felt that the segment "The Ransom of Red Chief" was weak, it was cut from the official premiere prints. When the film was released to television in the early 1960s, the sequence was restored.
Marilyn Monroe received star billing despite the fact that she's on camera for only about one minute.
In "The Last Leaf" (set in 1907), Berhman brings a painting that looks like a Jackson Pollock to gallery owner Boris Radolf who says, "Maybe you are ahead of your time. Maybe in 1950 they will recognize it for what it is." Pollock's most famous paintings were made during the "drip period" between 1947 and 1950.
After the popular and critical success of two British anthology films based on the W. Somerset Maugham short stories Quartet (1948) and Trio (1950), with different casts and crews for each episode, 20th Century-Fox felt that the time was right for an American version of this format.