Actress Armi Kuusela was 17-year-old when she won the first Miss Universe Pageant in 1952. The filmmakers capitalized on this by incorporating some loose biographical elements of Kuusela into the story and used her first name Armi for the character. Maailman kaunein tyttö was Kuusela's only film in Finland (her other film, Now and Forever, was produced in the Philippines).