- Actor-Inspired Element: Dennis Franz came up with the idea for Detective Marino to chew gum.
- Art Imitates Life: The apartment building where Kate's mysterious stranger lived, and where Liz was seeing her client, (at least on the outside) was actually used almost exclusively for 'Wall Street types' to meet with escorts and casual flings in real life at the time. note
- Also, the take where Kate discovers a notice of possible STD infection in her fling's desk was inspired by a real life incident early in filming: De Palma ran into an ex-girlfriend, and was catching up with her over lunch at her place, when a courier knocked on the door to give her a 'you have been named as a sexual partner by an STD patient' notice. De Palma added the notice into the film.
- Career Resurrection: In his autobiography, Michael Caine credits this film for reviving his career after a string of flops in the late 1970s.
- Creator's Favorite Episode: In her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Angie Dickinson said this was among her favourites of her films.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Angie Dickinson's body double Victoria Johnson dyed her pubic hair for the shower scene.
- Follow the Leader: It's a matter of perception whether one regards this film as an homage to Psycho or a shameless ripoff of Psycho. Not only is the plot basically Psycho with the names changed, many scenes are even shot the same way. A dying Kate Miller reaches out her hand just as a dying Marion Crane did in Psycho. 1000 Misspent Hours
' review makes the case that the film is actually a subtle critique of Hitchcock for not going further with the premise:El Santo: De Palma may use barely a trick here that wasn’t developed or perfected by Hitchcock, and he may lift the contours of the plot wholesale from Psycho, but Dressed to Kill commits to its cynicism in a way that I’ve never seen a Hitchcock movie do. You see it most clearly in the epilogue. A surprisingly long sequence depicts the killer escaping from a Bedlam-like interpretation of the Bellevue mental hospital to track down Liz and attack her in her apartment. At least part of this epilogue is revealed to be a Carrie-like dream, but even if we take the whole thing to be nothing but Liz’s nightmare, the mere fact that she’s having such nightmares is an acknowledgement that not everything has worked out for the good. The dead are still dead, the insane are still insane, the world is as hostile and threatening a place as it ever was, and now Liz has post-traumatic stress disorder on top of it all. Horror movies in 1980 were willing— indeed, in some ways expected— to confront such realities, and De Palma seems to be arguing that the sunnier endings typical of old-timey fright films are not just obsolete, but downright dishonest. - Inspiration for the Work: As a young man, Brian De Palma, at his mother's urging, actually followed his father and used recording equipment to try and catch him with another woman. That incident inspired this film.
- Throw It In!: Angie Dickinson came up with the idea to write "pick up turkey" in the book during the museum sequence. Moreover, Dickinson kept the gloves that she wore in this sequence.
- Trans Character, Cis Actor: The killer is revealed as having been a trans woman who was seeking to get sex reassignment surgery. She's played by cis actor Michael Caine.
- What Could Have Been:
- The movie originally started with the killer (disguised through lighting and clever photography) performing his own ad hoc sex change operation in the bathroom.
- Brian De Palma originally offered Liv Ullmann the role of Kate Miller, but she turned it down due to the violence.
- Sean Connery was offered the role of Robert Elliott and was enthusiastic about it, but declined on account of previously acquired commitments.
- Melanie Griffith turned down the role of Liz Blake. Producer Ray Stark wanted Suzanne Somers for the role.
- Matt Dillon turned down the role of Peter Miller.
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