On one of Fred Allen's "Texaco Star Theater" radio broadcasts around 1941, Allen joked that Don Ameche was playing so many real-life characters in movies that if he wasn't careful Ameche would play Don Ameche in a movie one of these days. In this picture, Ameche indeed played himself in a scene opposite Fred Allen.
The character Pansy Nussbaum was originally created for Fred Allen's radio show "Allen's Alley". On the radio the character was also performed by Minerva Pious, as in the movie.
This film capitalized on the longtime radio "feud" between real-life friends Fred Allen and Jack Benny.
In one scene, Fred Allen answers the phone using a stereotype Chinese voice. Allen often used this same voice on his radio show while playing the character One Long Pan, a Chinese detective who was a spoof of Charlie Chan. In the same scene, Allen meets a police detective played by Sidney Toler, who played Charlie Chan in 22 movies.
The screenplay was co-written by film editor/writer Alma Reville. She was married to Alfred Hitchcock.