A number of beggars in downtown Los Angeles were cast in small roles, including the legless man, nicknamed William F. Sauls, whom Capra had remembered as selling pencils when the director was a paperboy.
When Frank Capra was nominated for his first Best Director Oscar in 1934 for his work on this movie, presenter Will Rogers merely opened the envelope and said, "Come and get it, Frank!". Already halfway to the stage, Capra realized that Rogers wasn't referring to him, but to Frank Lloyd, who was getting the award for Cavalcade (1933).
Radio City Music Hall booked the film's premiere without seeing it, because Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932) had been the theater's first film and they considered the director to be good luck.
In the scenes where the Dude interacts with the police, Ned Sparks whistles 'The Prisoner's Song", a popular recording by Vernon Dalhart in the 1920s.