David Cronenberg wrote the film following the tumultuous divorce and child-custody battle he waged against Margaret Hindson. Cronenberg also said that Samantha Eggar's character, Nola Carveth, possessed some of the characteristics of his ex-wife.
Oliver Reed was arrested by the Canadian police during the production of this film after he made a bet with someone that he could walk from one bar to another without wearing clothes in freezing cold weather.
The movie is dubbed Chromosome 3 in some countries, misleading some people who think it's the last part of a trilogy.
First of David Cronenberg's films to be scored by Howard Shore, who would score all of his subsequent films, except The Dead Zone (1983).