While the movie draws upon the Peter Bogdanovich / Cybill Shepherd / Polly Platt love triangle for its inspiration, as many critics including Roger Ebert have noted, it also draws upon Nora Ephron's "Heartburn" for much of its inspiration, as Platt never wrote a bestselling novel about her husband's affair, but Ephron did.
Ryan O'Neal took the role for no salary, just points, because he really wanted to do it, but they didn't have the money to pay the actors what they usually earned. He said he loved the movie and thinks it's some of his best work.
The cowriters of this movie, Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, were like the main characters in Irreconcilable Differences, a married couple who collaborated on movies until they divorced in 1999.