All of Andrew's jokes as he regales the family were unscripted. Robin Williams ad-libbed all of the jokes, and the other actors' reactions to them are completely real.
Adam Bryant, who appears as the android head, has been Robin Williams' stand-in for more than a dozen films.
The aria that Andrew is listening to when he first uses the record player is from Dvorak's opera "Rusalka." The opera is concerned with the fairy-tale story of a water nymph who wants to become mortal for love.
The female robot, Galatea, is named after the statue brought to life by the gods in the Pygmalion myth.