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- Executive Meddling: While the scene at the Martini bar was filmed, James Stewart said he was so overcome with grief while praying that he began to shed Manly Tears. Frank Capra saw the feelings for Stewart, so Capra had to reframe the shot in order to get it closer than was actually filmed because he wanted to catch an expression on Stewart's face.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer at the high school dance.
- Also, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs is now a singer at the Martini bar.
- Omnipresent character actor Charles Lane plays one of Potter's henchmen. You know, the one who warns him, "One of these days this bright young man is going to be asking George Bailey for a job!"
- Uncle Billy is Gerald O'Hara.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: If you've seen the uncensored Tom and Jerry shorts, you might notice Ma Bailey's maid is played by the woman who voiced Mammy Two-Shoes, Lillian Randolph.
- Throw It In: In the movie, Uncle Billy staggers away drunk from a party, you hear a crashing metal sound, and (offscreen) he calls back "I'm all right! I'm alllllllll right!". We presume that Uncle Billy stumbled into some garbage cans. In fact, the crashing noise was from a stagehand dropping equipment, and Thomas Mitchell's "I'm all right!" was an ad-lib.
- And the stagehand got a bonus.
- Vindicated by Cable: It was not a big hit on initial release. It actually became a public domain title in 1974, so virtually every TV station around started airing it around Christmas due to it being so inexpensive. Since the early 1990s its copyright has been re-established (see the other wiki for all the details), but it's still a holiday staple, albeit exclusive to one broadcaster.