This movie is one of only three Australian movies featuring Australian country and western music pioneer Chad Morgan The Sheik of Scrubby Creek. The other's are Newsfront, and Ribspreader.
The Australian Film Commission (AFC) financed $8000 (Australian) in script development for this film but later rejected two applications for production financing.
John Hibberd's source 'Dimboola' play is said to have been inspired from London, England readings of two plays, Bertolt Brecht's 1919/1926 short play, the comedic farce 'A Respectable Wedding' (Die Kleinbürgerhochzeit, literally: The Petty Bourgeois Wedding) and Anton Chekhov's 1889 one act play, 'The Wedding'.
It has been said that often the alcohol drank on stage during theater productions of the 'Dimboola' play has actually been real alcohol. 'Theatre People' state: "The play uses audience participation to a very high degree; audience members are greeted by the father of the bride and the new arrivals are announced to the audience. Glasses of sherry and food are served by the actors, the auditorium is set up with tables and decorated with balloons and streamers. Audience members are assigned characters and actors improvise with them during the play's fights and shenanigans. The alcohol consumed on stage is often real."
This movie is not actually the only nor the first filmed version of the 'Dimboola' play by 'John Hibberd'. In 1973, about six years before this movie was made and about four years after the play was originally performed in 1969, a 1973 stage production of the play was produced by the Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory in Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A film, Dimboola: The Stage Play (1973), of a 1973 performance was recored live. The 80 minute recording was directed by David Williamson (who was directing this stage production) and Ross Dimsey and starred Bruce Spence who also starred in this Dimboola (1979) movie. The editor of the 1973 film was Tim Lewis whilst the scriptwriter was John Hibberd. A copy of the film is housed at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, Australia where it is titled as: DIMBOOLA : STAGE PLAY : [FILM RECORDING]. This earlier film is available on the Australian DVD release and actually makes this movie, technically speaking, a remake.