To prepare for the film, Ang Lee let the cast members study stacks of magazine cutouts from the early 1970s.
When asked to say grace, Christina Ricci goes into a tirade about the cruelty that is celebrated as Thanksgiving. She makes a similar speech when making the Thanksgiving toast in Addams Family Values (1993).
Although events in the film occur in November, filming actually began in the late spring. This is evidenced by an abundance of greenery in the exterior shots.
In the novel The Ice Storm, Rick Moody writes "And sometimes Paul himself was Ben Grimm, and sometimes he was Peter Parker, a.k.a. the Spider-Man" Ironically, Tobey Maguire plays both Paul and Peter Parker in the film versions.