Inspired by four short stories by Nobel Prize writer Luigi Pirandello.
The American version is actually distilled from two different Italian episodic features from 1953 and 1954: also included is the segment "Anna Magnani" from the omnibus feature We, the Women (1953).
Italian censorship visa # 15863 dated 22 January 1954.
Director Luigi Zampa stated that after the final shooting Totò, whom he personally choosed for the role, told him: "If I could always play scripts like the one you gave me, I would do tons of such things! But actually I do many movies where I have to invent everything, in the mornings I arrive to the theatre and cannot find anything, I have to invent gags, sketches, everything from scratch".
The home where Angela Reis (Lucia Bosè) lives was used again as hotel in Un amore a Roma (1960).