- Bowdlerise: After the West German premiere, the film was cut nearly two hours after the premiere to avoid courting controversy with conservative Bavarian politicians, for whom King Ludwig was still an idol and whose homosexuality was a taboo subject. The cutback was without Luchino Visconti's consent, but the director, who was in bad health after a stroke during filming, was not able to stop it.
- Dueling Works: Came out less than a year after another biopic about King Ludwig; Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King.
- Fake Nationality: Aside from Helmut Berger (who's Austrian); the cast includes English actor Trevor Howard as Richard Wagner, Polish actress Izabella Teleżyńska as the Queen Mother, and several Italian and French actors.
- I Am Not Spock: Romy Schneider was already famous for playing Empress Sisi in the 50s, but came to hate the part because it typecast her as a romantic lead. She only agreed to reprise the role if she was allowed to portray her as the cynical and disillusioned woman Sisi was known to be historically, though she did concede to put famous diamond decorations in her hair for one short scene.
- Production Posse: Shares several of the cast and crew from The Damned; including Helmut Berger, Helmut Griem, Umberto Orsini, Nora Ricci, writer Enrico Medioli, cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi, editor Ruggero Mastroianni, and costume designer Piero Tosi.
- Re-Cut: For English-speaking territories, the film was cut by just over an hour (238 minutes versus 177 minutes).
- What Could Have Been:
- Visconti wanted Laurence Olivier to play Richard Wagner.
- The script had a different ending where Ludwig is shot by an unseen assailant, based on theories that the King had been assassinated by his enemies while attempting to escape from Berg. Visconti changed it to a more ambiguous conclusion.note
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