Fred Astaire, then 47 years old, planned to retire as a leading man with this film. He was planning to only work with his dance studios and breed racehorses. Easter Parade, having recently lost Gene Kelly to a broken ankle, brought Astaire out of retirement. He danced on film and on television until he was nearly 70.
Mark Sandrich, who directed several of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films, was the original director, but he died suddenly of a heart attack. He was replaced by Stuart Heisler.
After Fred Astaire announced his retirement after completing this film, New York's Paramount Theater generated a petition of 10,000 names to persuade him to come out of retirement.
Filming began with Paul Draper as Jed Potter. Draper was fired over either his impatience with Joan Caulfield, who was not a professional dancer, or his stutter. He was replaced by Fred Astaire.
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 Universal ever since.
This marked the second time that Irving Berlin's song "White Christmas" was used in a film.
This was Paramount's biggest hit of 1946.