On the May 19, 1981, broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Alan Alda related his experience of attending the film's 1976 premiere in Westwood (which had Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft in the audience). Alda said he probably laughed harder than anyone in the crowd, and once the movie had ended, he approached Brooks and Bancroft to compliment them on a job well done. According to Alda, Bancroft didn't miss a beat and responded, "Oh, that was you laughing? You see, Mel? I told you SOME idiot would find this funny!"
The villainous company Engulf & Devour is a spoof of Gulf + Western, which between 1965 and 1970 swallowed up eighty different companies, including Paramount Pictures in 1966.
The movie features the first onscreen pairing of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, who dance a tango together. The couple were married from 1964 until Bancroft's death in 2005. Aside from an uncredited cameo as a congregation member in Blazing Saddles (1974), Bancroft had not previously appeared in any of her husband's films. They later starred together in To Be or Not to Be (1983), and Bancroft starred in The Elephant Man (1980) and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), which were produced by Brooks.
The original screenplay also featured an actual movie filming scene on the set of the movie, which is also called "Silent Movie". That scene shows the set designer at work, girls on the set wearing hats shaped like a Christmas tree and the characters standing near a pool with no water at first. The line Mel Funn said in the scene via title card was "Lights! Camera! Action! No Sound!"
Final film of Harry Ritz. Mel Brooks has described Ritz as "the funniest man on Earth", and one of his strongest comedic influences.