In an interview given shortly after the film was released, Fred Astaire revealed that he had tried dancing with more than 30 commercially available hat racks before the studio had the prop department design and build the one in the film at a final cost of over $900 (over $9000 in 2021 dollars). The hat rack disappeared shortly after the film wrapped.
The "You're All the World to Me" dance was accomplished by putting a whole room, with attached camera and harnessed cameraman, inside a 20-foot-diameter rotating "squirrel cage."
The ship's rocking during "Open Your Eyes" was based on Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire's experience on a voyage to London in 1923. A boat-rocking device was used to create the film effect.
Originally envisioned as the first pairing of Fred Astaire and June Allyson, but Allyson left the project within weeks when she discovered she was pregnant. Judy Garland was tapped as her replacement, but when she failed to appear for costume fittings, MGM finally severed her contract, and Jane Powell took over the role of Ellen Bowen. Ironically, towards the end of filming, Powell discovered she also was pregnant.
Retitled "Wedding Bells" in England so as not to make it appear to be a documentary of the recent wedding of Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II.