The picture was initially titled Hushabye. On 30 Apr 1969, DV stated that Brian Degas and Tudor Gates had adapted the screenplay from Edward Grierson’s 1952 novel, Reputation for a Song. Soon after, a news item in the 7 May 1969 Var credited the screenplay to Degas, Gates, Jennie Hall, and William Marchant; of whom only the latter two received screen credit. Producer Wilbur Stark’s short story, “Second Level,” was credited onscreen as an additional literary source.
       Principal photography began, under the title Hush-a-Bye Murder, on 12 May 1969, according to a 16 May 1969 DV production chart. Shooting took place at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Borehamwood studio lot in Hertfordshire, England, and in London, England, at locations including Annabel’s nightclub, the London Zoo, and a houseboat on the River Thames, as stated in a 7 Feb 1970 [Bridgeport, CT] Bridgeport Post article. Director John Newland remarked on the “fast seven-week shooting schedule” in an interview published in the 17 Aug 1969 LAT, stating, “Like most directors who come from television, I used three cameras going at once.” Newland defended the casting of Romy Schneider, who, at the time of filming, was ten years younger than her forty-year-old character, “Francesca Anderson,” and only ten years older than Dennis Waterman, who played her son “James.” The director claimed it didn’t matter that Schneider and Waterman looked close enough in age to be siblings, and argued that an older woman in the role would have made the tale of incest “something ugly.”
       The 9 Jul 1969 Var reported that filming had just ended. The picture came in “$97,000 under its intended $800,000 budget,” according to the 22 Apr 1970 Var.
By mid-Aug 1969, the title was changed again to Don’t You Cry, and, by early Jan 1970, to My Lover, My Son, as indicated in a 2 Jan 1970 Ames Daily Tribune advertisement for preview screenings that week at the Century Cinema I in Ames, IA. Theatrical release followed the week of 21 Apr 1970 at the Clay Theatre in San Francisco, CA, as announced in the 22 Apr 1970 Var. In New York City, the film opened at various theaters on 13 May 1970. A review in the 3 Mar 1970 DV complained that Romy Schneider had been “miscast,” and the 14 May 1970 NYT reserved its only praise for the picture’s lush settings.
       Edward Woodward and Elizabeth Allen were named as cast members in the 2 May 1969 and 16 May 1969 issues of DV. Wilbur Stark planned to make a cameo appearance as “an American tourist strolling through the streets of Soho,” according to the 5 Sep 1969 DV, and Michael Green, son of filmmaker Guy Green, served as third assistant director, as noted in the 9 Jul 1969 Var.
       The picture was shown under the title Incest in Berlin, Germany, the 9 Dec 1970 Var reported.