Greta Garbo was first offered the role of Irene Fellara. She turned it down.
Lana Turner was supposed to be one of the blondes that carried Clark Gable off at the end of his musical number "Puttin on the Ritz", but she had to go into hospital to fix a botched operation on her appendix.
According to the rumors, Lana Turner left the production to concentrate on her studies.
Near the end of "Puttin' on the Ritz", the dancer second from the viewer's left is barely in step and not doing any of the arm movements because she is holding up the top of her costume, which has a broken right strap and is flopping about as she dances.
This film was adapted by Robert E. Sherwood from his own Pulitzer Prize winning play. The original Broadway production, starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, opened at the Shubert Theatre in New York on Mar. 24, 1936 and ran for 300 performances.
This was the only film in which Clark Gable performed a dance number. He spent 6 weeks rehearsing the steps with the dance director, George King, and practicing at home with his wife, Carole Lombard. Because of his fear of messing it up during a take, the set was closed during the filming of this sequence.
When Clark Gable had to sing "Puttin' on the Ritz," he actually had to be carried off by Harry Van's Les Blondes, so they saved that scene for last in case he was injured. On the day of the shooting Carole Lombard came to watch and was amazed that it only took one take.