In the scene where the middle aged woman is burned alive, one of the last images we see from the books that are burning is what looks like Joan of Arc, who also burned alive for her convictions.
Many of the books burned during the entire movie are director François Truffaut's favorites. Producer Lewis M. Allen says that it's possible that Truffaut himself brought the books.
Most of the books being burned are classics with the exception of a crossword puzzle book and issues of Mad Magazine and Cahiers du Cinéma.
Other than the contraband books, there are no written words in this film up until the end credits.
Producer Lewis M. Allen said the studio's legal department requested that only books in the public domain be shown burning for fear of being sued by offended authors. Director François Truffaut and Allen ignored the request, believing that anyone would be flattered to have their book included.
The film's credits are spoken, not read, in keeping with the film's theme of destruction of reading material.
The first and only English language film for director François Truffaut.
The location filming of the final sequence with the "Book People" took place in poor weather. It was hoped that the weather would improve for the final days of shooting. Instead, they discovered that it had begun snowing during the night. The filming of the final shots while it was snowing was an unplanned contribution to the film's memorable ending.
The monorail featured in the film had been built in France in 1959 by the SAFEGE consortium as a test track. It was dismantled shortly after filming.
The scene where the fireman first put on his gear, is filmed in reverse. The same scene but in normal run is used again later for him to take out his gear.
The title of the movie (and the book) comes from the exact temperature at which paper catches fire.
While shooting in London, Truffaut felt no rapport with the English crew (since he spoke only French), so when not on set he stayed in his hotel room for the six months of the shoot, having all his meals sent up. When he got back to Paris, his friends asked him what swinging London was like and he answered, "I don't know - I just got out of the Hilton."