In a scene set in a comedy club, a terrible comedian performs a stand-up comedy act. This comedian asks Daniel (writer/director lead Albert Brooks ) how Daniel died. Daniel says "on stage, like you." Daniel later jokes that he can't leave before the end of the act because the guy on stage is his father. "No, I'm kidding. That would be so sad for me." This entire interaction is a dark and elaborate in-joke. Albert Brooks' father, Harry Einstein, actually was a comedian who died on stage at the Friar's Club, just after he finished his roast style comedy routine.
The trams used throughout the film are older ones from Universal Studios Hollywood.
On the coffee-table book "Above Judgement City," the picture is actually an aerial view of Downtown Denver, Colorado.
Having just written the script for this movie, Albert Brooks first met Meryl Streep at a party at the home of Carrie Fisher. "You wouldn't be interested in playing the lead in my movie, would you?" he asked Streep. She was.
Shirley MacLaine's appearance as the host of the Past Lives Pavilion is an obvious reference to the fact that around the time this film was made, she generated a lot of publicity (and ridicule, which she took in stride) by claiming that she has had several previous lives.