Film debut of actors Kevin Dillon, Patrick Dempsey, Stephen Geoffreys, Yeardley Smith, and Maggie Wagner
Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith both appeared in this movie years before they were both cast as the voices of Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson respectively.
Very many scenes were shot at Saint Michaels Grammar School (aka St. Michael's Parish School) and Saint Michaels High School and Saint Michaels Church (aka The Church of St. Michael) in Brooklyn N.Y. in the Sunset Park section. These all portrayed the St. Basil's School and the St. Basil's Church. However, a scene in an auditorium was shot at the Cardinal Spellman High School in New York's The Bronx.
When the studio decided to produce this film, it was tough to track down the writer. He was in Tibet and they had to wait for him to return before they started working on the film.
Modern audiences may be shocked at the nude swim class depicted in the film, but this was fairly common at the time. Because swimming pools didn't have adequate filtration systems, the American Public Health Association (APHA) required male public school students to swim nude between 1926 and 1962. However, since many schools were unable to afford the upgrade to their filtration systems, this tradition continued in some areas until the 1980's.