Dr. Penelope Russianoff, who plays Erica (Jill Clayburgh)'s therapist Tanya, was an actual practicing psychologist. The counseling sessions were filmed in her actual penthouse apartment on West 86th Street in New York, where she saw her patients. She worked for two and a half days and was paid US $2500. She was cast after having been recommended to director Paul Mazursky by "Girlfriends" (1978) director Claudia Weill. Russianoff said that she improvised most of her dialogue, which was based on the type of therapy she gave her patients. After the movie was launched, Russianoff became a mini-celebrity. She said the role gave her "instant celebrity-hood," being recognized on the streets of New York, where she signed autographs, and got a number of new clients. She wrote several self-help books in the 1980s, including "Why Do I Think I Am Nothing Without a Man?" (1988), a book first published about a decade after this film, but with a title and subject matter that were reflective of this picture.
In a scene when several of Erica's (Jill Clayburgh) friends are chatting in her bedroom, one complains that there are no great actresses like Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn anymore. Erica mentions Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand, but her friend considers them not as good. The year this movie was released, Jane Fonda won an Academy Award for Best Actress (for which Jill Clayburgh was also nominated).
Publicity for this movie declared that Jill Clayburgh did not have one single day off during the 10-week production shoot.
The abstract expressionist artworks seen in this movie were painted by Paul Jenkins who trained Alan Bates in his painting technique to play his artist character of Saul. For a week, Jenkins coached Bates on his technique of painting with acrylics. This involved pouring the paint on a canvas and guiding it through with a long brush or ivory knife. Bates said Jenkins gave him advice on how to stand when painting and various methods on how to achieve flow and movement with paint. Bates added that the final choice of the color and style was left to him by Jenkins. The painter's real life SoHo studio loft was actually used as the setting for Saul's studio in the movie whilst the artist himself appeared in the film in a cameo as a guest during the party sequence.