The film was unofficially based on the life of Clara Bow, Holllywood's original "It Girl." Director Victor Fleming was once engaged to her.
Although based on the life of Clara Bow, many elements of the story also matched Jean Harlow's own life. Harlow grew up in a Georgian home with white interiors, had nine large dogs, and some members of her family exploited her celebrity.
The scene on the bungalow balcony in which a fed-up Jean Harlow angrily tells off her publicist was filmed at the actual Women's Dressing Room building on the M-G-M backlot. It had to be shot quickly, because it kept several of the studio's biggest female stars - Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, and Greta Garbo among them - from having access to their personal dressing rooms.
When Lee Tracy asked to be released from the movie because he felt his role was too small in comparison with Jean Harlow's, Norman Krasna was hired to beef up his part.
Around the 20-minute mark, the first movie set Lola is working on is a scene from Jean Harlow's 1932 film, Red Dust (1932), specifically a scene in which Clark Gable argues with her as she soaks naked in a barrel of water.