The film features the music of George Gershwin including his famous piece, 'Rhapsody in Blue', which has been said to have inspired the movie. In a discussion with 'Silvio Bizio', 

 

Woody Allen said that the picture "evolved from the music. I was listening to a record album of overtures from famous George Gershwin shows, and I thought 'This would be a beautiful thing to make a movie in black-and-white, you know, and make a romantic movie". 

 

At the box office, the film was the sixth highest grossing film in the USA in 1979 and grossed more money than Woody Allen's Academy Award winning success Annie Hall. 

 

According to Jeff Stafford at the TCMDb, "When Manhattan was first released, there was some criticism leveled at the film for its depiction of a romance between a teenager and a 42-year-old man but several biographical sources have suggested that the relationship had a real-life parallel in Allen's two-year romance with actress Stacey Nelkin (Halloween III, le sang du sorcier, 1983). Reportedly, Allen met Nelkin on the set of Annie Hall (1977) when she was a mere 17-year-old extra (Her small part ended up on the cutting room floor). 

 

Certain aspects of the Isaac-Tracy relationship may also have been inspired by Allen's real-life correspondence with 13-year-old pen pal, Nancy Jo Sales". 

 

Apparently, after the success of Annie Hall, which had been Woody Allen's big recent success made directly before his previous film Intérieurs, United Artists executives told Allen's producers, Charles H. Joffe and Jack Rollins, to give Allen a message. That was: "From now on, make whatever you want". 

 

According to the "Every Woody Allen Movie" website, "Isaac [Woody Allen]'s full list of things that make life worth living [were]: Groucho Marx, Willie Mays, the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony, Louis Armstrong's Potato Head Blues, Swedish movies, Sentimental Education by Flaubert, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne, the crabs at Sam Wo's, [and] Tracy's face". 

 

Mariel Hemingway was Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Tracy in this movie but lost to Meryl Streep for Kramer contre Kramer who ironically also appeared in Manhattan as Isaac (Woody Allen)'s ex-wife Jill. 

 

One of three 1979 movies starring actress Meryl Streep first released in that year. The pictures are Manhattan, Kramer contre Kramer and La vie privée d'un sénateur. 

 

Meryl Streep shot her scenes for this movie during breaks in filming on Kramer contre Kramer. 

 

One of a number of pictures which were filmed in black-and-white by director Woody Allen during his immediate post-Annie Hall period between the late 1970s and early-mid 1980s. The films include Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Zelig and Broadway Danny Rose. Allen would then not make another b&w film for about another seven years, until Ombres et brouillard. 

According to Wikipedia, "The famous bridge shot was done at five in the morning. The production had to bring their own bench, because there were no park benches at the location. The bridge had two sets of necklace lights on a timer controlled by the city. When the sun came up, the bridge lights went off. Cinematographer Gordon Willis made arrangements with the city to leave the lights on and that he would let them know when they got the shot.Afterwards, they could be turned off. As they started to shoot the scene, one string of bridge
 lights went out, and Woody Allen was forced to use that take"Moreover, D.O.P Gordon Willis said in an interview with 'The Reeler'"We did it several times. It took about twenty minutes after the initial set-up. It was around 5:30 AM.The choice of the location was really based on how good it was visually".

 

 

In an interview with 'The Reeler', director of photography 'Gordon Willis' said of this film: "After the completion of Annie Hall we simply proceeded to shoot Manhattan. Woody felt New York should be in black-and-white... we both did. I pushed for anamorphic (widescreen) because I like the graphics.... thought it would be a very good combination for the picture........ Widescreen.... black-and-white. I think we talked about shooting it at lunch one day. We both like the same things..... it was an easy decision". 

 

The film features in a cameo Tisa Farrow who is the sister of Mia Farrow who was notably Woody Allen's partner for over a decade and starred in thirteen of his movies. Mia Farrow's first collaboration with Allen was Comédie érotique d'une nuit d'été. As such, Tisa Farrow appeared in a Woody Allen film before Mia did. 

 

Famous Manhattan cultural landmarks and significant locations seen in the movie include Central Park, the Queensboro Bridge, Bloomingdales, Broadway, Madison Avenue, Greenwich Village, Zabar's, Riverview Terrace,5thAvenue, the Russian Tea Room, the Hayden Planetarium, the S. R. Guggenheim Museum, the Staten Island Ferry, Sutton Square, Park Avenue, the Temple of Dendur, Elaine's Restaurant, the East Side and the Upper East Side,the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art

 

Manhattan(1979) was the third consecutive Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination in three consecutive years for Woody Allen but on this occasion shared with Marshall Brickman. The previous two Oscar noms were for Intérieurs (1978) and Annie Hall (1977), Allen winning only one of these, for the latter. For an Oscar,Allen would not be next nominated again for a script until Broadway Danny Rose in 1984.From there,he would be nominated for the next three films in three consecutive years amounting to four Oscar 

screenplay noms in a row

 

On the DVD, this film features the later United Artists logo in b&w but in Woody Allen's next film Stardust Memories, also in b&w, the UA logo at the start of the movie is in color.