Filmed in over one hundred different locations, with eighty speaking parts, and six thousand extras, this movie was given the biggest budget of any HBO production (up until that time), as well the network's most extensive promotional campaign.
Diana Ross, Diahnne Abbott, Irene Cara, Holly Robinson Peete, Whitney Houston, and Neneh Cherry were considered for the role of Josephine Baker.
Lynn Whitfield was glad to be chosen to play Josephine Baker in this movie, but she was concerned about the scene requiring her to bare her breasts to perform Baker's famous "Banana Dance." "I was nervous about what my grandmother would think," she said, but then she warmed to the idea: "It's what you think Eve would look like."