Trivia: Jason Robards won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role of Dashiell Hammett, even though he had only nine minutes of screen time.
Trivia: When Hal Holbrook talks to the press after the heat shield separation we see a model Saturn V in the background. An extra stage has been inserted above the S-II second stage and the mission payload appears to have been augmented too.
Trivia: In this movie, Penny Irving plays Young Mr. Grace's new secretary, Miss Nicholson. In the TV series, she was called Miss Bakewell.
Trivia: Original titles for the film included "Free Popcorn" and "Closed for Remodeling."
Trivia: In the scene where the Lea family get into the funeral limousine by mistake, the three mourners who join them are played by Betty Hare, Winifred Braemar and Bertie Hare, who are the real life siblings of Doris Hare, who plays Mrs Lea.
Trivia: Director John Frankenheimer has a cameo as the television director in the Coliseum control room.
Trivia: The movie's plot is a fictionalized version of ballerina Lesley Browne (who played Amelia in the film) and her real-life family. Her mother, ballerina Mirrow Brown, was close friends with fellow dancer Nora Kaye (Lesley Browne's godmother). The characters of Emma and DeeDee were based on them. Nora Kaye was married to Hollywood director/producer Herbert Ross, who directed the film. Famed dancer Gelsey Kirkland was originally cast to play Amelia, but when she dropped out, Lesley Browne was cast to play a fictionalized version of herself.