The screenplay was based on the first-hand recollections of the operations of New Orleans' "Red Light" prostitution district published in the book "Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red Light District" by Al Rose. The book contains many of photos of New Orleans prostitutes taken by E.J. Bellocq, the character played by Keith Carradine in the movie.
Years after Brooke Shields starred in the film, she studied French Literature at Princeton University. Her 1987 senior thesis, written during her final year, was entitled "The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, La petite (1978) and Lacombe Lucien (1974)," meaning she wrote about a film in which she starred.
Labeled as "child porn" both by the cover of People magazine and popular gossip columnist of the time, Rona Barrett, the movie sparked complete outrage among audiences, even becoming banned in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan. Brooke Shields declared to People magazine at the time. "It's only a role. I'm not going to grow up and be a prostitute." When Vanity Fair asked her in 2018 if she regrets starring in the controversial flick, she said "It was the best creative project I've ever been associated with. The best group of people I've ever been blessed enough to work with." Director Louis Malle refuted the criticism, stating to People, "Anybody who calls it child pornography has not seen the damn thing ... nymphet and Lolita rub me the wrong way."
Jodie Foster was initially considered for the role of Violet, but declined due to her commitment to Walt Disney Pictures, because she was starring in La course au trésor (1977). When interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine in 1991, Jodie said that she was reluctant to play that role, because she didn't want to be typecast as the underage prostitute she played in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976).
Brooke Shields told Vanity Fair in 2018 that she had no experience acting when she took the role. But her unpolished performance worked for her character. She said "I was virtually untrained and just was in the moment. [Director] Louis [Malle] had always said he didn't want a Lolita who was cognizant of her sexuality. He didn't want me to be slick or coy."