The turn-of-the-century-style film (which plays alongside the opening credits) was originally intended to appear in the bulk of the story. On Butch, Sundance and Etta's trip through New York, they view this film, which depicts Butch and Sundance's deaths. It upsets Etta so much, it contributes to her later decision to return home by herself. The segment had an annoyed Butch and Sundance watching the film from the back of the theater, whispering comments like, "We never did that". The change was made when it was decided to make the trip through New York into a musical interlude over still-photos. The main reason for the change: the studio had just finished work on a "period" set of a New York street (ca.1900) for the film Hello Dolly and did not want this expensive set appearing in a different film first.

In 1981, Robert Redford founded the Sundance Film Festival, which is named after his character the Sundance Kid.

In the very sexist movie business of 1968/69, actress Katherine Ross, (Etta Place) was caught operating a camera, filming some footage of the arrival of the train carrying the "super posse". As a result of this trespass into a male job, she was banned from the set, except for when she was needed for a scene.