* AllStarCast: The FiveManBand, for a start, are played by Creator/JesseEisenberg, Creator/AnneHathaway, Creator/GeorgeLopez, Creator/JamieFoxx and Music/WillIAm. Outside of the FiveManBand, there is also Creator/JemaineClement, Creator/LeslieMann and Carlos Ponce.
* BillingDisplacement: Despite Creator/JesseEisenberg voicing Blu, the film's protagonist, Creator/AnneHathaway is first credited. Same goes with the sequel.
* TheCastShowoff: Recording artist will.i.am and part-time singer Jamie Foxx getting singing bits may be obligatory (as is doing the same to Music/BrunoMars and Creator/KristinChenoweth in the sequel), but Creator/AnneHathaway?
* CelebrityVoiceActor: The Rap duo ''Madcon'' is doing the voices of Nico and Pedro in the Norwegian dub.
* DirectedByCastMember: The Brazilian Portuguese dub was directed by Creator/GuilhermeBriggs, who voiced Nigel.
* DuelingMovies:
** If you want a 2011 film with birds associated with music, just check ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeetTwo''.
** Creator/{{Pixar}}, on the other hand, unknowingly averted this; it is commonly assumed that they backed out of making ''Newt'' (which would've been a similar story line involving newts instead) ''because'' of this film's existence, but in reality it was scrapped because the team decided to make ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' instead.
** A minor one with ''Film/FastFive'' due to both films being set in Brazil, released in the same month, and ''Fast Five'' was dubbed as ''Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist'' in some markets.
* MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor: Rodrigo Santoro voiced Tulio in English and Brazilian Portuguese.
* PetFadStarter: Fortunately averted. When the movie came out, there were serious concerns that the film would lead to an increased demand for parrots, which would've been particularly bad since parrots are extremely high-maintenance animals that need constant attention and lots of patience, not to mention they often live for several decades. Thankfully, that never came to pass, though likely for cost reasons; parrots are expensive and run from several hundred to a few thousand dollars. Not exactly an impulse buy, especially for a first-time bird owner.
* {{Typecasting}}: Creator/GuilhermeBriggs, the Brazilian voice of Nigel, had also voiced another Blue Sky villain: Phineas T. Ratchet (in Brazil ''Dom Aço'', literally "Don Steel") from ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}''. Of course, he doesn't always voice villains: he's voiced WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}, [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Super]][[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010 man]] and [[WesternAnimation/MegasXLR Coop]], but one who knows his work ''really'' cannot deny that he shines real bright as a villain (hence the parallel with Creator/NorioWakamoto), particularly {{Card Carrying|Villain}} ones that enable his LargeHam to go loose.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Saldanha first had the idea for the film in 1995, involving a penguin being washed up on the beaches of Ipanema, It was changed to the current story after he learned of [[WesternAnimation/HappyFeet other films]] [[WesternAnimation/SurfsUp involving penguins]] being produced with greater results.
** Creator/NeilPatrickHarris was originally set to voice Blu however had other commitments outside production where eventually Jesse Eisenberg was instead cast.
** Earlier concept art had Blu be more accurate to the Spix's Macaws plumage colors.
** Another unused concept for Nigel was at one point a palm cockatoo before being changed to sulphur-crested cockatoo and had a metallic claw on his left foot.
** Linda was originally an older lady named Mrs. Park.
** Scrapped characters was Linda's aunt named Alice Tipabody and her cat Clyde who would've appeared when Tulio comes across Linda and Blu (Though Clyde's model was used for the street cat Blu scares off to distract the smugglers after him and Jewel), Mayor Sampedro who would've appeared as Linda and Blu arrived in Rio, and Hernando, a bird who would've worked with Nigel to capture other birds and an extended scene Alice and Chloe were accompanied by sparrows and crows to mock Blu's inability to fly.

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