The working titles of this film were A Latin from Manhattan, Rings on Her Fingers, They Met in Rio and The Road to Rio. A 15 Nov 1940 HR news item noted that Twentieth Century-Fox had to change the title from The Road to Rio because of a conflict with Paramount, which wanted them not to release their picture until six months after the release of Paramount's Road to Zanzibar in order to avoid any confusion over the similar titles. According to notes for a late Sep 1940 meeting with executive producer Darryl F. Zanuck, contained in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Arts--Special Collections Library, Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Rosalind Russell and Joan Bennett were considered for the role of "Baroness Cecilia Duarte."
       According to the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the Breen Office had serious reservations about the initial script, and indicated that the script would not be passed unless it was clarified that "Baron Manuel Duarte" and "Cecilia" were not actually living together as husband and wife while "Cecilia" was under the impression that "the Baron" was "Larry Martin." The PCA urged the studio to write in a situation whereby "Cecilia" would only kiss "the Baron" while she believed that he was "Larry," which would therefore spark "the Baron's" jealousy without implying the occurence of an illicit sexual affair. According to a 12 Nov 1940 letter to Joseph Breen from Zanuck, the script was submitted to the Brazilian Ambassador in Washington, D.C., who approved it and stated that it would be "the kind of picture that will be helpful to North and South American relations." A report in the MPAA/PCA filed noted that the picture was rejected for distribution in Ireland, although no reason was given.
       Although a 28 Oct 1940 HR news item stated that Charles Henderson, the studio's "musical supervisor," had started work on the picture, the extent of his contribution to the completed film has not been determined. According to a 14 Feb 1941 HR news item, the film was to have a special "stage show" trailer, during which some of the musical numbers would be presented in a live stage show before a feature film. The trailer was necessitated by the legal problems between the music publishing companies BMI and ASCAP, which resulted in studios not being able to advertise their musical pictures on the radio. The trailer was to have its initial run during the presentation of Tobacco Road at the Roxy Theatre in New York City, and the news item noted that the studio had sent $10,000 worth of feather costumes to the Roxy for use in the trailer. This film marked the sixth and final teaming of Faye and Don Ameche, and the first film in which Carmen Miranda played a character with a name other than her own. According to modern sources, Faye and Ameche recorded and filmed the song "Chica, Chica, Boom Chic" as a dance number, but only the sequence of Miranda and Ameche singing the song is in the released picture.
       That Night in Rio is a remake of Folies Bergère de Paris, a 1935 Twentieth Century Pictures/United Artists release also based on the play by Rudolph Lothar and Hans Adler. That picture, also produced by Zanuck, was directed by Roy Del Ruth and starred Maurice Chevalier and Merle Oberon. A French language version of Folies Bergère de Paris, entitled L'homme de Folies Bergère was shot simultaneously to the English version (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.1414). In 1951, Twentieth Century-Fox remade the film again as On the Riviera, which was directed by Walter Lang and starred Danny Kaye and Gene Tierney.