Debbie Reynolds reportedly wanted to play the role of Doris Mann, loosely based on herself. However, director Mike Nichols personally requested Shirley MacLaine.
Liza Minnelli reportedly told writer Carrie Fisher that the film resembles her own relationship with her own famous mother, Judy Garland.
Towards the beginning, when Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) is in detox, she has a nightmare in which she is walking down a corridor between photos of various famous people who died of drug- or alcohol-related causes. The portraits are of Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Billie Holiday, and Lenny Bruce. The well-coiffed matron who comes at her shaking her finger is Nancy Reagan with her "Just Say No" message.
The cop movie Suzanne works on, "LA Beat", is a reference to Carrie Fisher's Hollywood Vice Squad (1986).