Roger Corman told Peter Bogdanovich he could make any film he wanted to, with two conditions: he had to use stock footage from The Terror, and he had to hire Boris Karloff for two days (Karloff was under contract and owed Corman those two days). Karloff was so impressed with the script that he refused pay for any shooting time over his contracted two days. He worked for a total of five days on the movie.
Frank Marshall's parents and then-girlfriend appear as film-goers at the drive-in scenes. The film's dolly grip also appears, as the father shot, to the horror of his son who is sitting next to him in one of the cars.
Randy Quaid's film debut.
Peter Bogdanovich named his own character "Sammy Michaels" after Samuel Fuller (whose middle name is "Michael") in gratitude for the work Fuller did on the script.
Peter Bogdanovich planned to have Boris Karloff actually appear in the film for about 20 minutes, and have the stock footage from The Terror add another 20 minutes of screen time for Karloff. In the final movie, Karloff is actually on screen (not counting the scenes from "The Terror") for about 30 minutes.
According to Peter Bogdanovich's introduction to the film on the DVD, the scene in which Sammy wakes up with a hangover and is jolted when the first thing he sees is Byron Orlok originally called for him to laugh at himself, but he couldn't manage it. Boris Karloff suggested the bit that is actually used in the film - and ad-libbed Orlof's start when he unexpectedly confronts himself in a mirror, as well.
Aside from background music played on a car radio, there is no musical soundtrack for the movie.
By the time this film was made, 80-year-old Boris Karloff was in very poor health with emphysema along with rheumatoid arthritis, and had only one-half of one lung left and spent the time between takes in a wheelchair with an oxygen mask on. He also had braces on both legs, and had difficulty standing or walking without his cane; the weakness of his legs is visible in some scenes.
Drive-in scenes were shot at the since-closed Reseda Drive-In Theatre in Reseda, CA, as clearly shown on the marquee and screen tower. Early in the movie, the Sepulveda Drive-In in Van Nuys is briefly shown in the background as Bobby drives down the highway. On the DVD commentary, Peter Bogdanovich incorrectly credits this as being the Reseda Drive-In.
In the beginning credits of the movie, it states, "Radio music supplied by Charles Greene and Brian Stone". The music that they used was "Green Rocky Road", performed by the band "The Daily Flash", which Greene and Stone managed.
Shot in 22 days and completed in December 1967 (copyright 1967). Due to its controversial nature, Paramount only released it after inserting a written prologue denouncing gun violence. Fortunately, Boris Karloff lived long enough to view the completed film as well as enjoy the accolades he deserved for his performance.
The story Orlock tells of the servant fleeing death is W. Somerset Maugham's short story "The Appointment in Samarra."
Voices of Joey Bishop and announcer Regis Philbin can be heard in background, excerpted from Bishop's late night ABC TV talk show of late Sixties.
When Bobby writes out the check to buy the sniper rifle, he writes the check out to Boris Karloff.
When film cameras, which run at 24 frames per second, film directly off the screen of US televisions, which run at 30 fps, the result is a dark or light bar across the image, rolling from top to bottom. To avoid this effect in the scene when Sammy and Orlok are watching The Criminal Code, in most shots a film picture was matted in over the TV screen, giving a steady picture with no bar. However, according to Peter Bogdanovich's DVD commentary, they couldn't afford to use a matte for the establishing shot for the scene, which pans across the TV's screen, so the bar appears in that shot and only that shot (in Europe, where the TV frame rate is 25 fps, often they simply run the film camera at 25 fps also, for shots with a TV picture in them).