Ann Miller was only 15 years old when this movie was filmed. Her character is called on to perform numerous (amateur) ballet positions, including the toe pointe, which was very painful for her. She hid this from the cast and crew but would cry (out of sight) off stage. James Stewart noticed her crying, though he didn't know why, and would have boxes of candy to make her feel better.

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Lionel Barrymore plays Jean Arthur's grandfather in the film. In reality, he was only 22 years her senior.

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The first film collaboration of Jean Arthur, James Stewart and Frank Capra. Later the same teamed up for Mr. Smith au sénat (1939).

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A 1938 feature film usually ran to 8,000 feet of film. Frank Capra shot 329,000 feet for this one.

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Frank Capra was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1938 and was at the forefront of a union dispute amongst producers and directors that was threatening to disrupt that year's Oscar ceremony. Fortunately it was resolved in time for the President to walk off with 2 more Oscars to add to his collection.

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The original play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was still running on Broadway when the film opened.

Debut of Dub Taylor.

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Frank Capra first became aware of the play when he caught a performance of it when he was in New York in 1937 for the premiere of Les horizons perdus (1937). He tried to persuade Columbia boss Harry Cohn to buy the rights but Cohn refused, partly because he baulked at the prospect of shelling out what he considered to be the exorbitant sum of $200,000 for the rights, but mainly because he was still smarting from the lost battles he'd had with Capra over the final edit of Les horizons perdus (1937). Capra too was out of sorts with Cohn as he objected strongly to the Columbia boss trying to market the Jean Arthur film If You Could Only Cook (1935) in Britain as one of his own. A court case ensued, only being resolved in November 1937, with the proviso that Columbia buy the rights to the play and assign the project to Capra.

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When filming was completed, the word of mouth was so good that Columbia was confident enough to hold a massive international press screening prior to its release.

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The art director Stephen Goosson was kept very busy adding props to the living room set. Naturally, there are a few jokes found in the collection. Some of the more interesting pieces in the Vanderhof living room are; Alabama pennants (2), Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, and Ann Miller photos (3 of each actor), Anton Pavlovich Chekhov photo on mantel, bust of Dan Peggotty from David Copperfield on the mantel (as played by Lionel Barrymore), Dub Taylor photo, figurine of Micawber from David Copperfield, various figurines from the movie "Lost Horizon", bust of Frank Morgan, a Midland "jump-spark" cigar table lighter (similar to the model used in It's a Wonderful Life), and a wooden figurine sitting in front of the typewriter that is probably of significant relevance.

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The part of the drunken actress Miss Wellington was cut from the film.

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The Broadway play "You Can't Take It With You" opened at the Booth Theater in New York on December 14, 1936 and ran for 838 performances. The original cast included Jess Barker as Tony Kirby, Margot Stevenson as Alice Sycamore and Henry Travers as Grandpa. Donald, played so memorably in this film by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, was originally portrayed by Oscar Polk, who later played house servant "Pork" in Autant en emporte le vent (1939).

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Columbia paid $200,000 for the film rights to the play.