Rachel Blanchard was advised to dye her hair red for her role of Tiffany. Both Blanchard and Amy Smart have blonde hair and blue eyes, and Todd Phillips felt it made sense to have only one blonde involved in the story.
The university in the opening scene flyover is Harvard University. Old School (2003) uses the same footage.
Though the film takes place at schools in Ithaca, Boston, and Austin, almost all of the college scenes were filmed at Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia, all near Atlanta.
Ithaca University is fictional, but Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong are alumni of Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and the movie is partly based on their time there.
Originally, Moby's version of the James Bond theme played in the background when E.L. drove the car over the bridge. Director Todd Phillips changed it to a 'generic' song because the film's budget wasn't enough to use the Moby song.