The character of "Harry Charms" was based on a real-life British manager and impresario of the period, Larry Parnes, who was famous for hiring unknown singers and giving them extravagant stage names (his most famous client was Billy Fury). In 1960 he hired an unknown Liverpool band called The Beatles to accompany one of his lesser stars, Johnny Gentle, on a tour of Scotland, but he decided not to take the Beatles on as clients because he was only interested in handling solo singers, not groups.
"That's Inspiration" ends with a close-up of a giant record of the song credited to a band called "The Hidden Persuaders." This is an in-joke reference to Vance Packard's book "The Hidden Persuaders," a late-1950's best-seller explaining how advertisers were hiring psychologists as consultants to make their pitches irresistibly appealing to basic human natures.
Julien Temple asked David Bowie to write music for the film. After reading the book and then the script, Bowie agreed to Temple's offer if he could also play the part of Vendice Partners.
After submitting the film for a 15 certificate producer Stephen Woolley was contacted by the BBFC and told that Patsy Kensit had revealed a nipple in one of the film's scenes. Despite Woolley's assurance that this was not the case because Kensit had been insistent during filming about not revealing her body, UK censor James Ferman painstakingly trawled through the movie using a BBFC "freeze frame" machine until he was finally convinced that the original information was incorrect. Only then did he grant the film an uncut certificate.
About 38 minutes into the film, Colin enters the flat of Mr. Cool who is looking out the window. Colin briefly picks up the cover of the 1959 Miles Davis album "Porgy and Bess." That album featured arrangements by, and an orchestra under the direction of, Gil Evans who did the score for this film.