Several character names are taken from classic literature. Virgil and Beatrice appear in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy while Billy Budd and Crazy Elija appear in Herman Melville works, Billy Budd and Moby Dick respectively.
The title of the movie came from an autographed picture of Julie Newmar that author Douglas Carter Beane saw on the wall of a Times Square Chinese restaurant, the China Bowl, in the mid 1980s.
The name of one of the towns, Bala Cynwyd, is a Philadelphia suburb, where executive producer Mitchell Kohn attended junior high school.
Before filming the scene in which Sheriff Dollard (played by Chris Penn) pulls the car over at the roadside, Patrick Swayze secretly placed a corn cob down the front of his underwear. Penn's expression of shock upon putting his hand up Swayze's dress is not faked.
According to the three male leads, upon completion of filming they burned their costumes, wigs and make-up because it took so long each morning to "become women."
Opened in the #1 spot the weekend it opened, with approx $4M.
According to John Leguizamo in his autobiography, his frequent improvisation angered Patrick Swayze so much that Swayze tried to punch him in the face.
Gary Oldman claims he was originally offered one of the lead drag roles but decided he didn't want to do another part that required extensive make-up after his experiences on Dracula (1992).
Patrick Swayze earned the role of sage Vida Boheme by improvising a 30-minute monologue inspired by the bullying he suffered as a boy studying ballet in Texas.
Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez won an undisclosed sum from Universal and Amblin after complaining that John Leguizamo's character shared his name. Rodriguez claimed that being linked to a gay character who dresses in drag had harmed his reputation.
The real Julie Newmar showed up on set one day to watch filming, which led to her cameo appearance.