This was Martin Scorsese's first film to win Best Picture. And his first Oscar for best Director. Martin also said that this was the first movie he ever made with a plot.

The title track to the movie, which plays at the menu and twice in the movie, is "I'm Shipping Up to Boston", a hit song by the Dropkick Murphys. The Dropkicks are a Boston-based Irish band, fitting for a movie about Irish mobsters in Boston. The song is also the entrance music for Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon.