Film debut of Leslie Caron.
No words are spoken during the last 20 minutes and 25 seconds of the film.
On the two-disc special edition DVD released in 2008 by Warner Home Video, footage of one musical scene has been restored as a bonus: Georges Guétary, accompanied by Oscar Levant at the piano, singing "Love Walked In" to Leslie Caron in a café. Audio extras include Gene Kelly crooning "I've Got a Crush on You," plus two versions of "But Not for Me": a Georges Guétary vocal and an Oscar Levant piano solo.
Producer Arthur Freed wanted Marge Champion to star in this movie, but at the time Champion didn't want to break up her dance act with her husband Gower Champion. So she persuaded Freed that he should cast a French girl in the role instead.
The 17-minute dance sequence at the end took a month to film. It cost half a million dollars.
The ballet sequence was almost cut because the shooting was behind schedule, but MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer stood by Arthur Freed, Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly in withholding the release of the movie because he felt the movie wouldn't be effective without it.
The movie was named as one of "The 20 Most Overrated Movies Of All Time" by Premiere.
The piece performed in Oscar Levant's dream sequence is the third movement, Allegro Agitato, from George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F Major. This movement is also the shortest one in the concerto.
There was a break in production after 1 November 1950, at which point Gene Kelly began rehearsing the ballet choreography. By the time production for that final sequence resumed on 6 December, Vincente Minnelli had finished directing another film - Father's Little Dividend.
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1993.