The censors were not too keen on the scene in which Arthur wakes up on Sunday morning in bed with his mistress. It directly implies extra-marital sex, a notable first for British cinema.
The factory scenes were filmed in the same factory that original author Alan Sillitoe worked in during the war when he was making shells and other artillery. At the time of filming, the factory was owned by the Raleigh bicycle company.
The film had to go through some dialogue changes before release, mainly owing to the swear words in the original script. Although 'bastards', 'bloody', and 'bleedin' were allowed the censors refused to pass 'sod', 'christ' and 'bogger' (the latter being a script substitution for 'bugger').
The house used as the filming location for the Seafords' house was owned by Alan Sillitoe, the author of the novel on which the film is based.
British rock band the Arctic Monkeys were heavily influenced by this film. The title of their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" is a direct quote from the movie, and many of the songs were inspired by Albert Finney's character. Also the art design of the album was influenced by the realist images of British working class neighborhoods and night life in "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning".