"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 26, 1945 with Felix Bressart reprising his film role.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 29, 1940 with Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan reprising their film roles.
Ernst Lubitsch delayed the start of the movie until both James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were available. In the mean time, he filmed Ninotchka.
According to Bright Lights Film Journal website, When Kralik mentions "You read Zola's Madame Bovary," Klara immediately corrects him: "Madame Bovary is not by Zola," she snipes. The joke here is that though Klara knows who wrote Madame Bovary, she doesn't understand that she herself is living exclusively in Emma Bovary's world of impossible ideals.
According to the Book "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise", 'The Shop Around the Corner' is the most meaningful tribute possible to the owner and employees of the long vanished Berlin clothing firm of S. Lubitsch.
All scenes were reportedly shot in sequence.
In the Book "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise", Ernst Lubitsch called this film "the best picture I ever made in my life."
Several people who are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were the Customers, Claire Du Brey, Mira McKinney, Renie Riano and Ruth Warren.
Soon after wrapping principal photography, Ernst Lubitsch talked to the New York Sun in January 1940. "It's not a big picture, just a quiet little story that seemed to have some charm. It didn't cost very much, for such a cast, under $500,000. It was made in twenty-eight days. I hope it has some charm."
The play, "Perfumerie" (also known as "Illatszertár"), was copyrighted 10 November 1936.
To make sure his film was stripped of the glamor usually associated with him, Lubitsch went to such lengths as ordering that a dress Sullavan had purchased off the rack for $1.98 be left in the sun to bleach and altered to fit poorly.
While directing this movie, Ernst Lubitsch drew upon his extensive experiences working in his father's Berlin shop as a young lad. At the film's January 25, 1940 premiere at Radio City Music Hall, Lubitsch remarked, "I have known just such a little shop in Budapest...The feeling between the boss and those who work for him is pretty much the same the world over, it seems to me. Everyone is afraid of losing his job and everyone knows how little human worries can affect his job. If the boss has a touch of dyspepsia, better be careful not to step on his toes; when things have gone well with him, the whole staff reflects his good humor.