Despite having a starring role in many films before this one, this is the first movie in Joe Pesci's career where he received top billing.
The movie's plot was inspired by the landlord, Morris Gross, who was sentenced to live in a neglected apartment in one of his buildings for failing to correct more than 400 housing code violations. The sentence was the first of its kind in New York.
The big man who owns the red Chevrolet Corvette at the end is former NFL offensive linemen William Roberts. The part was originally written for Mike Tyson, but he was asking for too much money for such a small part.
In the scene when Joe Pesci is in the grocery store, he says the line " What am I? A mirage?" He says the same line in Goodfellas (1990).