According to Ralph Bakshi, he originally wanted to end the movie with Pete playing Lynyrd Skynyrd's song "Free Bird", but the producers chose Bob Seger's song "Night Moves" instead. The song "Free Bird" plays over the ending credits.
Although all of the characters are fictional, many were partially inspired by real people. The character Frankie, for instance, was based on Grace Slick (of Jefferson Airplane) and Janis Joplin (of Big Brother and the Holding Company).
The two dancers in the "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" montage are The Nicholas Brothers, Harold Nicholas and Fayard Nicholas. The animators directly rotoscoped their dance from Stormy Weather (1943).
The battle scenes during the "Sing, Sing, Sing" montage were rotoscoped from the movie Hell Is for Heroes (1962).
Ralph Bakshi: The piano player who tells a pregnant Bella that her song "is going to be a big hit. I think you should try it out."