Trivia / The Return of the Pink Panther

• Career Resurrection: Peter Sellers, after establishing himself early in The '60s as Inspector Clouseau in prior Pink Panther films and with critically acclaimed work in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and Dr. Strangelove, became notorious on set of Casino Royale (1967) as a very demanding presence to work with, which got so intolerable he was fired midway through the shoot. Subsequently, Sellers absorbed much of the blame when the film became a disjointed, over-budgeted mess, with cast and crew members alike citing his behavior as the principal reason the finished film was poorly received by moviegoers. Most of his films flopped for the next eight years before he reprised his role as Inspector Closeau for this film. Sellers found renewed success when it became a hit and stayed on top of the A-list until his death in July 1980 – right before his final film, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, could've likely killed his career again if he were still alive for its release a month later.
• Deleted Role:
  • Julie Andrews filmed a cameo role as a maid removing the unconscious Clouseau from Claudine's room, but her part was edited out. (She can still be seen for a few seconds before Dreyfus falls down the stairs.)
  • Milton Reid is credited as Japanese Restaurant Owner, but he is nowhere to be seen in the film.
• Missing Episode: Until June 2017, no boxset of the film series included this film, due to Universal owning the distribution rights at the time (the film having been produced by ITC {see below} led to Granada/ITV Studios owning the rights, and after ITC's deal with IVE/Live/Artisan Entertainment ran out, ITV licensed the film to Universal/Focus Features for home media). They were all available, but Shout! Factory's release of all the Sellers films marks the first time they've been together, as apparently MGM was able to get the full US distribution rights to the film back from Universal within the past couple years, whereas before, they only held digital distribution rights. Universal still holds UK distribution rights, however, with a UK Blu-ray licensed to and released by British label Fabulous Films.
• The Other Darrin:
  • David Niven was unavailable to reprise his role as Sir Charles Lytton, so Christopher Plummer took over.
  • For the French dub of Charles Dreyfus, Duncan Elliott didn't come back after A Shot in the Dark. Pierre Garin replaced him.
• Studio Hop: United Artists were keen on another Pink Panther film, but not one involving Peter Sellers or Blake Edwards, as their careers had declined. As a result, Lew Grade's company ITC Entertainment produced the film (though UA still wound up distributing and getting a cut of the profits).
• Role Reprise: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk and Andre Maranne return to the roles they had last played 11 years earlier in A Shot in the Dark.
• Sequel Gap: The film was released 11 years after A Shot in the Dark and 7 years after the much-maligned Inspector Clouseau.
• Throw It In!: Catherine Schell kept ruining takes because she was laughing so hard at Peter Sellers' antics. In the end, a few of them were left in the final cut. In-universe, as Claudine was not fooled by Clouseau's disguises, they still work as her reaction to his bumbling nature.
• You Look Familiar: Graham Stark, who'd played Clouseau's assistant Hercule in A Shot in the Dark, appears here as the Fat Man's evil minion Pepi. He would continue to turn up in the sequels, each time as a different character.

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