The film is loosely inspired by David Reuben's 1969 non-fiction book of the same name, adapted by Woody Allen into a series of comedic vignettes rather than a straight adaptation.

The opening and closing credits play over a mass of white rabbits set to Cole Porter's 'Let's Misbehave'.

Woody Allen himself plays harmonica on the track 'Red River Valley' featured in the film.

The 'What Are Sex Perverts?' segment is a parody of the TV game show What's My Line?, filmed in black-and-white kinescope style and hosted by Jack Barry, with real media personalities Regis Philbin, Robert Q. Lewis, Pamela Mason, and Toni Holt as panelists.

The segment with Dr. Bernardo parodies Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster and especially The Unearthly, both of which starred John Carradine, who also appears in this segment.

The giant runaway breast sequence spoofs the 1950s giant-monster movie genre, while the finale is also compared by critics to a parody of Fantastic Voyage and Antonioni's La notte.

The film was an early box-office success for Woody Allen, grossing over $18 million in North America against a $2 million budget, making it the 10th highest-grossing film of 1972.

The film was banned outright in Ireland in March 1973; a cut version removing a bestiality line ('the greatest lay I ever had,' referring to a sheep) and a scene of a man having sex with a loaf of rye bread was passed in 1979 and released in 1980, with the ban on the uncut version eventually lifted.