This is a remake of the Deanna Durbin film It's a Date (1940). Both films were produced by Joe Pasternak, and in both the young star - Jane Powell in this version - sings "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's opera "La Boheme".
In the marketplace, both MGM Records and Decca released versions of Carmen Miranda's pair of frolicsome movie songs, "Yipsee-I-O" (music and lyrics by Ray Gilbert) and "Ca-Room-Pa-Pa" (music and lyrics by Luiz Gonzaga, Humberto Teixeira and Gilbert). The MGM soundtrack album contained the prerecordings. For her last Decca session, Carmen was matched with The Andrews Sisters on each side of the single.
At the time Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) was released, Jane Powell's star was on the rise and Ann Sothern's was on the wane. As such, Sothern received top billing in the credits of the film itself, while Powell (the true box office draw), was top-billed on the promotional materials, artwork, and MGM's soundtrack album.
The exterior for the barnyard sequence utilized the same sets as MGM's Summer Stock (1950), which was in production at the same time.
MGM's soundtrack album featured six songs from the film on one ten-inch record. When the album was reissued in 1974, a seventh song -Jane Powell's solo rendition of "Magic in the Moonlight" -belatedly made its debut on vinyl. Powell's prerecording of "Embraceable You" has yet to be released, and the recognized musical highlight of the movie, the affectionate "Shine On, Harvest Moon" performed by Powell, Ann Sothern, and Louis Calhern, also remains locked in the vault.