Fritz Lang was 73 when he made the film. One of the reasons why he hadn't directed in some years - his last film was The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse - was because he was virtually blind at this stage in his life.
Jean-Luc Godard had been curious about making a big budget production. This more than satisfied his experience (he hated making the film).
Jean-Luc Godard was actively seeking out a film project he could do with Brigitte Bardot when he came across Alberto Moravia's novel.
Jean-Luc Godard was very dismissive of the source material - Alberto Moravia's novel 'Il Disprezzo' - calling it "a nice vulgar read for a train journey".
Between 1959 and 1967, Jean-Luc Godard made an unprecedented 15 movies, of which Contempt was the sixth.
Contrary to the myth that Jean-Luc Godard makes films without a screenplay, there was a script for Contempt and it ran to 132 pages.
Filming was frequently interrupted by chasing off members of the paparazzi who were desperate to take photos of Brigitte Bardot, then one of the biggest stars in the world.
Godard called the film "the story of castaways of the Western world...who one day reach a mysterious island, whose mystery is the inexorable lack of mystery."
Godard was forced into shooting in CinemaScope.
Originally Jean-Luc Godard wanted to have Kim Novak and Frank Sinatra as the two leads but both actors turned it down. Producer Carlo Ponti suggested his wife Sophia Loren with her frequent co-star Marcello Mastroianni, but Godard turned down that idea.
Producer Joseph E. Levine insisted on the Brigitte Bardot nude scene that opens the film, realizing that it was the only way he could sell a film that he hated.
The argument which takes place between Michel Piccoli and his wife Brigitte Bardot lasts for 34 minutes.
The noticeable color palette of the film - red, white and blue - represents both the French and the American flags.
The seventh most successful film in 1963 at the French box office - a disappointment for Brigitte Bardot but Jean-Luc Godard's biggest commercial success.
This marks the first and only time that Jean-Luc Godard worked with American backers.