The lake that Lúcia Moniz and Colin Firth are "swimming" in was actually only eighteen inches deep and they had to kneel down and pretend to be in deeper water. It was also over-run by mosquitoes and Colin Firth was badly bitten and his elbow swelled up to the size of an avocado, requiring medical attention.

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When casting the part of Sarah, Richard Curtis auditioned a great many British girls, but kept saying, "I want someone like Laura Linney..." The casting director eventually snapped and said, "Oh, for fuck's sake, get Laura Linney then." She then auditioned and got the part.

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The airport greeting footage at the beginning and end of the film is real. Richard Curtis had a team of cameramen film at Heathrow airport for a week, and whenever they saw something that would fit in they asked the people involved for permission to use the footage.

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A speech given by Hugh Grant in 'Love Actually' - where he extols the virtues of Great Britain and refuses to cave to the pressure of its longstanding ally, the United States - was etched in the transatlantic memory as a satirical, wishful statement on the concurrent relationship with George W. Bush. Tony Blair responded by saying in 2005, "I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually (2003) and tell America where to get off. But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause."

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All four leading stars of Raison et sentiments (1995), technically appear in this film, with Grant, Thompson and Rickman playing leading roles, and Kate Winslet appearing in stock footage of James Cameron's Titanic (1997).

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When Juliet (Keira Knightley) visits Mark (Andrew Lincoln) in his flat to view the footage he shot on her wedding day, a video copy of Hitchcock's Fenêtre sur cour (1954) can be seen. One of the main themes in Rear Window is voyeurism or watching something or someone, and as we see that is exactly what Mark was doing to Juliet without her knowledge.

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The scene where Kris Marshall's character Colin (accidentally) insults the caterer's food to her face, was originally written as a scene for Hugh Grant's character in 4 mariages et 1 enterrement (1994), but was cut from that film.

 

In the version edited and broadcast in the US on the ABC Family Channel, the entire subplot of John and Just Judy (the characters in the ersatz "porn" movie) is completely edited out. And, even with those and other cuts, the film ran 3 hours with commercials.

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