Myrna Loy was originally cast as the female lead. However, she pulled out of the project to make Another Thin Man instead. Interestingly, Loy and James Stewart had actually worked together in a Thin Man movie a year earlier when he appeared in After the Thin Man (which was also directed by W.S. Van Dyke).

This film was the first and only time Claudette Colbert and James Stewart worked together, despite their on-screen chemistry. Colbert, of course, got first billing as she was the bigger star, especially after her Oscar win for It Happened One Night. Stewart wasn't far behind though. His big break, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, was his next project.

Hecht was known for his sharp writing, especially his ability to punch up struggling scripts. In his career, he co-wrote The Front Page (later adapted into His Girl Friday) and wrote Alfred Hitchcock’s Spell Bound and Notorious. He also wrote the screwball comedies Nothing Sacred and Twentieth Century, both of which starred Carole Lombard. Interestingly, he gave a nod to Twentieth Century in It’s a Wonderful World by naming a character Mildred Plotka – the real name of Lombard’s character.