In the book "Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Moviemaking" long-time Allen chronicler Eric Lax shadowed him through the making of Irrational Man (2015). He writes that Allen doesn't rehearse or prepare. He does the minimum number of takes and camera setups and likes to be finished by six every evening. He barely gives his actors any instructions at all [The Guardian, Feb.2018].
Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) previously taught philosophy at the fictional Adair University. This is the same university which Harry Block (Woody Allen) was expelled from and subsequently honoured by in Deconstructing Harry (1997) and where Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson) studied journalism in Scoop (2006).
The Braylin College scenes were filmed at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.
The book of poems Abe presents to Jill is "Conversation at Midnight: Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay."