Trivia

Gene Kelly bought the roller skates for the "I Like Myself" number down the block from his house at Pioneer Hardware on Beverly Drive. He also mentioned that the skates were not altered in any way; they weren't locked to his shoes, so when he tapped in them, he had no help.

The picture was a financial disappointment. Some film historians cite this failure as prime evidence that the original Hollywood musical had begun to lose its box-office clout around 1955. This film grossed $1,380,000 in the US and Canada and $994,000 overseas resulting in a net loss of $1,675,000 for MGM.

This film is noted for the dance number Gene Kelly does on roller skates. However, Kelly's Singin' in the Rain (1952) co-star Donald O'Connor did a similar act in the MGM musical I Love Melvin (1953).

Dolores Gray's overblown musical number Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks! is meant as a satire of the excesses of 1950s TV variety shows in general (and NBC's The Dinah Shore Show (1951) in particular). Shore was known for her excessive ebullience and her habit of constantly blowing kisses to the audience.

Betty Comden and Adolph Green originally conceived this musical as a sequel to On the Town (1949), having the new film reunite Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin. It was originally intended as a stage musical but that changed when Kelly insisted on filming it. Studio boss Dory Schary did not want to hire Sinatra because the singer had acquired a reputation for being difficult and nixed Munshin because he was no longer popular with audiences.