Shortly before his death in 2014, executive producer and director Mike Nichols revealed that out of all of the movies he had directed in his lifetime, he considered this to be his magnum opus.

The first episode drew 4.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched cable show of the year.

When Louis (Ben Shenkman) speaks to the Rabbi (Meryl Streep) after his grandmother's funeral, two of the rabbis also sitting on the cemetery bench are played by Tony Kushner (who wrote the play and screenplay) and children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who collaborated on the book "Brundibar" with Kushner.

When Nurse Emily (Dame Emma Thompson) starts babbling in Hebrew to Prior Walter (Justin Kirk), she's actually reciting El Malei Rachamim, the prayer for the dead, asking for the repose of Prior's soul.

Jeffrey Wright was the only member of the original Broadway cast to appear in the screen version.