Deanna Durbin', on the verge of retiring from the screen, turned down opportunities to costar with Bing Crosby in this film and his previous vehicle that year, Top o' the Morning.
Mark Twain got his idea for Hank Martin to use the eclipse for his benefit from Christopher Columbus. Columbus actually used an eclipse knowingly to perhaps alter history. Stranded in Jamaica in 1503, on his fourth voyage, Columbus and his crew were wearing out their welcome with the natives, who were feeding them. Columbus knew a lunar eclipse was coming, so he "predicted" the Moon's disappearance. The natives begged him to bring it back and, of course, he did, in due time.
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since.
The filmmakers couldn't use the musical's original score because it had already been purchased for use in Words and Music, a Richard Rodgers tribute.