As a wartime evacuee, the young Raymond is seen sketching a snowman based on a Christmas cake figurine. In 1978 'The Snowman' would become Raymond Briggs' most famous and successful book.
Carl Davis composed the original music for this film. The main piano theme in Ethel and Ernest is a reused version of Canon Collins, from his original soundtrack for the 1995 BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice (1995) (starring Colin Firth).
When Ernest first shows off his new, electric milk float, the music heard is the theme from John Ford's iconic western, Stagecoach (1939).
The third animated film in 2016 Universal Pictures distributed in the U.K. and Ireland, following Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and Sing (2016).
Beyond voicing the character of the tailor, Duncan Wisbey is listed in the credits as providing the voices of additional characters. Those unlisted additional characters include the wedding photographer, the radio announcer, the BBC news reader, the newspaper seller, and Arthur.