Because Luchino Visconti was severely affected by a stroke, the insurance companies refused the risk of insuring the production. The filming could begin only after Burt Lancaster promised to replace the director behind the camera if necessary.
Shot entirely in English.
Before shooting even started, the photos of the audition of the fifteen-year-old Claudia Marsani without a blouse were put into circulation, and the director was asked about it. Luchino Visconti replied: "Well, I made the girl take off her blouse because she has to do a nude scene in the film, and I wanted to make sure she was beautiful too undressed."
The main character was based on art critic and scholar Mario Praz. The English title of the film, "Conversation Piece", is a nod to Praz's book "Conversation Pieces: A Survey of the Informal Group Portrait in Europe and America". In an interview, Praz recalls how the situation described in the movie (a group of young and loud tenants moving into the old palazzo where he lived, disrupting his peace) happened for real a few months after the movie was released.