The film is based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story 'It Had to Be Murder,' adapted into a screenplay by John Michael Hayes.

A dispute over the film rights to Woolrich's original story went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990 case Stewart v. Abend, since the film had been copyrighted in 1954 by Patron Inc., a company set up by Hitchcock and Stewart.

The film was shot entirely on Stage 18 at Paramount Studios, where an enormous, highly detailed indoor set replicating a Greenwich Village courtyard was built, stretching from the basement storeroom to the top of the lighting grid.

Set designers Hal Pereira and Joseph MacMillan Johnson spent six weeks building the set, which became the largest of its kind at Paramount, complete with a massive drainage system for the film's rain sequence and four interchangeable lighting setups for morning, afternoon, evening, and night.

Although the film's fictional address is 125 W. Ninth Street in Greenwich Village, the set was actually modeled on a real courtyard located at 125 Christopher Street.

The famous uninterrupted 90-second opening scene introducing Jefferies and his neighborhood required extensive rehearsal and ten takes over half a day of filming.

Although veteran composer Franz Waxman received credit for the score, his actual contributions were limited to the opening and closing titles and the songwriter's piano tune 'Lisa'; this was Waxman's final score for Hitchcock, who instead relied primarily on diegetic music and sound.

The soundtrack features Bing Crosby singing 'To See You Is to Love You' (originally from Road to Bali), along with versions of 'Mona Lisa,' 'That's Amore,' Leonard Bernstein's Fancy Free score, Richard Rodgers's 'Lover,' and an aria from Flotow's opera Martha, most licensed from Paramount's music publisher Famous Music.

Alfred Hitchcock makes his traditional cameo appearance in the songwriter's apartment, where he is seen winding a clock.

Rear Window was one of five Hitchcock-Paramount films (dubbed 'The Forbidden Five' or 'The Lost Hitchcocks') whose rights reverted to Hitchcock after eight years; he withdrew them from circulation for nearly 20 years until Universal purchased the rights in 1983 for a rumored $6 million.

The film has influenced numerous later works, including Brian De Palma's Body Double, Phillip Noyce's Sliver, the 2007 film Disturbia, and a scene in the 2004 horror film Saw, as well as being spoofed in TV episodes such as The Simpsons' 'Bart of Darkness'.

A 1998 TV movie remake starred Christopher Reeve, who was himself paralyzed following a 1995 horse-riding accident, in the lead role of a paralyzed man using assistive technology.

Taylor Swift has referenced the film multiple times, wearing a dress in her 'Me!' music video similar to an Edith Head design worn by Grace Kelly, and citing the film's voyeuristic elements as an inspiration for her album Folklore.

The film holds a 99% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a rare perfect score of 100 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating universal critical acclaim.