* The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally set to go to Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley. Polley dropped out to work on her own project, and Pitt, for whom writer/director Cameron Crowe had written the part of the "guitarist with mystique", worked with Crowe for months before finally admitting, according to Crowe, "I just don't get it enough to do it."
* The original title for Almost Famous was actually "Untitled", however Dreamworks would not allow this, so Crowe called the bootleg edition of Almost Famous on DVD "Untitled" instead.
* Peter Frampton taught Billy Crudup how to play the guitar in preparation for the concert scenes.
* The film's production took 92 days.
* Philip Seymour Hoffman's schedule only permitted him to be on set for four days, and he had the flu the whole time.
* To look like a real rock band, the four actors in Stillwater rehearsed for four hours a night, five nights a week, for six weeks.
* Stillwater's songs were written by Cameron Crowe and his wife Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart.
* Penny Lane asks William if he'd like to go to Morocco with her. He says, "Yes... ask me again." According to director Crowe, "ask me again" was Patrick Fugit stepping out of character and asking 'Kate Hudson' to repeat her lines for another take. But Crowe like the take as-is and kept it in the final cut.
* The old records William looks through at the beginning are actually Cameron Crowe's, saved from his younger years.
* Unusually, Billy Crudup actually was on the other end of the telephone line in the scene where Frances McDormand's character reprimands him.
* The scene where Penny Lane nearly dies of a drug overdose is a tribute to a similar scene in the film The The Apartment (1960), director Cameron Crowe's favorite film, in which 'McLaine, Shirley' nearly dies from taking too many sleeping pills.
* At the party, when he is on acid, Russell Hammond cries out, "I am a Golden God!" This is a reference to Robert Plant of the band Led Zeppelin, who is purported to have said the same thing (sober) while looking over Sunset Strip from a hotel balcony.
* Fairuza Balk's exclamation, "Does anybody remember laughter?" is a reference to an additional lyric Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin) would often insert in live performances of "Stairway to Heaven."
* References to the Allman Brothers:
o In the opening seen we briefly see a ticket stub from an Allman Brothers concert.
o Later, we see a black-and-white photo of the fictional band Stillwater that echoes the Allman Brothers' famous Live at the Fillmore East album cover.
o The character Red Dog is named after one of the Allman Brothers' famous roadies.
o We also hear the Allman Brothers' music on the tour bus.
* When Penny Lane is driving William to the hotel to meet Stillwater, there is a reflection on the windshield that resembles the cover of Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon".
* The shot of the crowd at the start of the first Stillwater concert (with the roses on the stage and fan flashing a peace sign) is based on the cover of Neil Young's "Time Fades Away".
* At the age of 18, director Cameron Crowe wrote the liner notes to the "Frampton Comes Alive!" album by rocker Peter Frampton. Frampton returns the favor here by acting as a music consultant for the film.
* This is the first Cameron Crowe movie not to feature a cameo by Eric Stoltz. (Stoltz was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Singles (1992), Say Anything... (1989) and Jerry Maguire (1996).) Stoltz was supposed to play David Bowie in Almost Famous but that didn't work out. Crowe admitted they broke the streak and promised that Stoltz would do a double cameo in his next film, which would be Vanilla Sky (2001). Although, while the theatrical version doesn't feature Stoltz, Crowe stated in the "Untitled" DVD commentary that the Untitled version does include a reference of some sort to Stoltz, thus keeping the streak alive. Crowe encourages fans to try and find the reference in the film.
* In the scene where the tour plane hits turbulence, Russell starts to sing "Peggy Sue". This is in reference to Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash while on tour.
* The film is director Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical account of life as a young Rolling Stone reporter. The actual group that Crowe first toured with was The Allman Brothers. (Gregg Allman was the one who distrusted him and kept asking if he was a narc.) Crowe's real-life near-fatal plane crash happened while traveling with The Who. The character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey of The Eagles.
* The character of Penny Lane is based on several women Crowe met at the time depicted, but principally Bebe Buell.
* Jason Lee said he emulated moves of Paul Rodgers, lead singer of Free and Bad Company, to accurately portray rock star Jeff Bebe (his aim was "not to be a parody".)
* Featuring over 50 songs, the film's music budget was $3.5 million. Most music budgets for films are less than $1.5 million.
* Cameron Crowe's original script was 172 pages and, according to him, he filmed almost all of it.
* The scene where Crowe's character is pulled into the pre-performance huddle is based on an occasion when Eddie Vedder pulled Crowe into Pearl Jam's huddle before performing one of their Lollapalooza shows.
* During the opening credits, the hand that's writing on the notepad belongs to Cameron Crowe.
* When William finally makes an appearance at Rolling Stone's San Francisco office, a Hunter S. Thompson "Freak Power" poster can be seen on the wall. William's editor also mentions Thompson in an earlier phone conversation.
* The photo on the T-shirt that Stillwater are disappointed about is a close replica of the cover from Bad Company's 1977 album, "Burnin' Sky".
* Sarah Polley was cast in the role of Penny Lane, but dropped out to take a role in the low-budget Canadian movie The Law of Enclosures (2000). 'Kate Hudson' , who took over, had been originally cast as William's sister.
* In William's final interview with Russel Hammond, Willam asks "What do you love about music?" and Russel replys "To begin with..." and William laughs. "To Begin With..." is the title of Stillwater's (fictional) first album, seen briefly on an 8-Track in the opening sequence, and more clearly in The Making Of, on the DVD.
* Cameron Crowe says he got Billy Crudup's line: "Well, yeah, on my better days, I am Russell from Stillwater," directly from John Cusack's response to a girl in a bar who asked, "Aren't you Lloyd Dobler?" (his character in _Say Anything (1989)_ )
* The phrase on Vic Munoz's shirt, "Have you seen the bridge?" is a line from Led Zeppelin's song "The Crunge".
* When William comes across the Led Zeppelin fan kid in New York, the kid is wearing a t-shirt which has written on it the lyrics to the Led Zeppelin song "The Rain Song".
* Kirsten Dunst was nearly cast as Penny Lane instead of 'Kate Hudson' . Cameron Crowe choose Hudson because he felt Hudson seemed more like a "free spirit" but Crowe promised Dunst he would cast her in a future film of his. Four years later, Crowe kept his promise but casting Dunst in a leading role in Elizabethtown (2005).
* Jon Favreau and Jack Black both auditioned for the role of Lester Bangs.
* Cameo: [Peter Frampton] member of the road crew for Humble Pie. In real life, Frampton was a member of Humble Pie from 1969 to 1971.
* Cameo: [Alice Marie Crowe] the director's mother appears in the graduation scene as a teacher handing out diplomas.
* Cameo: [Cindy Crowe] the director's sister (portrayed in the movie as Anita), and her husband and three daughters as the startled family in the elevator when David Bowie is hustled into it by his manager.
* Cameo: ['Jann Wenner'] publisher of Rolling Stone is seated in the back of a New York taxi.
* The opening credit sequence is a homage to the one in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), one of director Cameron Crowe's all time favorite films. Immediately after the opening credits, William Miller and his mother are having a discussion about Atticus Finch, the protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird.
* In the scene where the band finds out that William is using "everything" in his Rolling Stone article, Jeff Bebe ('Jason Lee' ) is wearing a T-Shirt that says "Jeff Bebe" on it, but the picture above it is of Russell Hammond's (Billy Crudup) face. This is a sly allusion to the feud between them, and ties into the line from the "Untitled" version where Jeff says to Russell, "I'm the you they get when they can't have you."
* The scene where Stillwater are being driven into New York city mimics a scene in The Song Remains the Same (1976) where Led Zeppelin are being driven into New York city.
* The scene where members of the band Stillwater are being driven into New York city in a limo mimics a scene in the film "The Song Remains the Same" where members of Led Zeppelin are being driven into New York city in a limo.