When Gene Kelly dismisses the beauty of a passing New York girl, Jules Munshin asks, "Who you got waiting for you in New York, Ava Gardner?" Frank Sinatra was having an affair with Gardner at the time.
In her screen debut, Alice Pearce repeated her 1944 Broadway stage role as Lucy Shmeeler (the roommate with the unfortunate sneezing problem). Alice Pearce is also fondly remembered as the first actress to portray nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz on TV's Bewitched (1964). Pearce was the only member of the original Broadway cast to appear in the film.
The crew tried to keep the location filming in New York City as low-key as possible. Many of the scenes were filmed from the back of a station wagon. At the end of "New York, New York", as the camera tilts up at Rockefeller Plaza, you can see the skating rink lined with spectators watching Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly.
When the boys are looking for clues on the poster in order to find Miss Turnstiles they find her likes and dislikes. The only problem is none of that is actually mentioned on the poster they have or any that the viewer sees.
Spectators can be seen watching the filming of the "New York, New York" number in Rockfeller Center (though it could be argued that the sight of three men in navy uniforms singing and dancing might attract attention, even in New York).
Gabey, Chip, Ozzie: [singing]
New York, New York, a wonderful town / The Bronx is up and the Battery down / The people ride in a hole in the ground / New York, New York, it's a wonderful town!