The car Phaedra buys her stepson is a 1960 Aston Martin DB4 MkII.
Anthony Perkins loved milk and Jules Dassin promised him fresh milk daily during shooting of the film.
Phaedra (1962) was the fourth collaboration between Jules Dassin and Melina Mercouri, who took the title role. Greek writer Margarita Lymberaki adapted Euripides' play Hippolytus (428 B.C.) into a melodrama concerning the rich society of ship owners and their families, but still containing some of the tragic elements of the ancient drama. The film is set in Paris, London, and the Greek island of Hydra.
This tale of forbidden love leading to tragedy has continued to hold audiences, inspiring a version by the ancient Roman writer Seneca, 17th century French playwright Jean Racine's Phedre, an opera by Hans Werner Henze, a dance piece choreographed by Martha Grahame, a cantata by Benjamin Britten and a British version by Tony Harrison, Phaedra Brittanica, set in 19th century India. In 1924, Eugene O'Neilll updated the story to a 19th century New England farm to create one of his most successful early plays, Desire Under the Elms.
The music was composed by Jules Dassin. In the soundtrack, Melina Mercouri sang two songs. The first one was written by Nikos Gatsos, a major Greek poet, and was sung by Mercouri and Anthony Perkins after their love scene in Paris. The other one was heard in the film as the main love theme. Both of the songs are popular in Greece and they have been performed by hundreds of singers and actors. The toccata from Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue for organ in F major, BWV 540 was used prominently in the film.