Robert Wise's first directorial screen credit, after he was called in to finish what was going to be short subject director Gunther von Fritsch's first feature film debut. Fritsch had fallen behind schedule and was replaced by Wise and the film was completed nine days behind schedule and over budget.
According to the screenwriter DeWitt Bodeen, Val Lewton wanted to call this film "Amy and Her Friend". However, RKO executives insisted on using the "Cat People" name to attract fans of Cat People, which had been an enormous box office success made with a very low budget.
Because of the incredibly tight budget, sets from Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons were re-used.
Irena is Serbian in origin (as shown on the precursor 'Cat People') yet sings a traditional French Christmas carol 'Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant' to Amy.
Miss Callahan, Amy's teacher, refers to a book, The Inner World of Childhood, written by American psychologist Frances Wickes and published in 1927.
The book titled "The Inner World of Childhood" mentioned by Miss Callahan, Amy's teacher, is a real work written by American psychologist Frances Wickes around 1930. It was admired greatly by Carl Jung, who wrote an introduction for it in 1931.
The mummers' plays referred to by Alice and Miss Callahan are old folk plays performed by travelling groups of players called mummers or guisers. They were often performed in the street or in taverns/ public houses.
The painting described as Irena's favorite piece of art is a print of 'Don Manuel Osorio' by Goya.
The painting, featuring cats and a child, shown in the Reed's home and described as Irena's favorite piece of art, is the Goya work, "Don Manuel Osorio".
The poem quoted by the Miss Callahan is The Unseen Playmate by Robert Louis Stevenson from 'A Child's Garden of Verses' (1913).
The story that Julia Farren performs for Amy is Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'. Sleepy Hollow is north of Tarry Town where the Reed family lives.