After producers had difficulty finding a red haired child actor with the charisma they needed to play Ginger Meggs, they recast Paul Daniel (originally cast as Coogan's lackey, Sammy) and dyed his hair red for the part.
Often omitted is the fact that the film was also shot in Mittagong, which is adjacent to Bowral. The log in the water Ginger sits on was in Lake Alexandra, and Ginger's school was comprised of shoots at both Bowral Primary and Mittagong Primary School.
The building containing Joe's ice cream parlour was a set constructed specially for the film.
Producers chose to film in Bowral, as the style of buildings there reflected the era of the 1940s in Sydney.
Co-producer and screenwriter Michael Latimer was married to Sheena Bancks, daughter of Ginger Meggs creator Jim Bancks. Michael & Sheena's daughter Miranda Latimer, who was cast as Polly, would later become the managing director of Winslow Investments, the company behind the Ginger Meggs comic strip.