Janis Paige's film debut.
At the time of its release, this was MGM's third-highest grossing film, after Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and Gone with the Wind.
In one sequence Red Skelton's character appears in a tutu. In a later interview Red said it was uncomfortable because he had to have his chest, back and underarms shaved for this costume.
In one sequence Red Skelton's character is trapped inside a house by a large dog. He escapes by removing the hinge pins from the door, picking up the door and, as the dog comes inside he holds the door between them and goes out. Red said that they had written themselves into a corner and could not come up with a way for him to get out. They were going to scrap the scene when the comedian Buster Keaton visited the set, took one look and told them how to do it.
Some initial credits are not in the second set of credits, so the cast ordering uses the initial credits first and fills in the rest with the subsequent credits, according to IMDb policy.
The movie was initially to be titled "The Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing. However, once MGM execs watched the first cut of the film, they realized that Esther Williams' role should be showcased more, and so changed the title to "Bathing Beauty", giving her top billing and featuring her bathing-suit clad figure on the posters.