"Daddy" (music and lyrics by Bobby Troup), plugged by Betty Grable in a store's music department, was cut from the film so that Twentieth Century-Fox could showcase Miss Grable in a fully dramatic role. The shooting script had Betty working as a stenographer instead of plugging songs. As her sole musical moment, Miss Grable hummed a bit of the Tchaikovsky-based ballad, "The Things I Love" (music and lyrics by Harold Barlow and Lewis Harris), during a car ride with Victor Mature and Carole Landis. Most of the ditty would be sung by Miss Landis later in the movie. Footage of Miss Grable performing "Daddy" still exists.
According to the DVD, this film was originally titled "Hot Spot" and a title sequence was shot using this (included on the DVD without music), but subsequently dropped in favor of "I Wake Up Screaming." However, the title "Hot Spot" was retained for its UK release, and British prints incorporate the original title sequence.
Immediately before shooting, a bottle of silver nitrate was accidentally spilled onto Carole Landis' lips by her dentist. As a result, her lips were blue for more than three weeks, posing an added challenge for the makeup crew.
Two famous melodies are heard in the Cyril J. Mockridge background score: "Over the Rainbow" (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics, not sung here, by E.Y. Harburg) from The Wizard of Oz, and Alfred Newman's theme from Street Scene.
When Laird Crager went on a ride-along with L.A. police during the shoot, he was caught up in a real shooting. Cregar also reported for work shortly after an emergency appendectomy, against his doctor's orders.