Fay Kanin who cowrote the script with her husband Michael said the studio's argument was "you can't play a love scene alone."

[10] In December 1955, MGM announced the lead roles would be played by Allyson, Dolores Gray, Ann Miller (as the husband stealer), and Leslie Nielsen with filming to begin January 16, 1956.

[12] In the 1939 version of The Women, actress Lucile Watson was featured in the cast as Mrs. Morehead, the loving, wise, and supportive mother of Norma Shearer's character Mary Haines.

For the 1956 version, the role was eliminated, and a new character was created instead - Amanda Penrose, a playwright who served as Kay Hilliard's kind friend confidante.

Barbara Jo Allen had the distinction of being in both the 1939 and 1956 versions—in the first film, she had a small, uncredited part as a receptionist; in the second, she played gossip columnist Dolly DeHaven.

"[13] In the Orlando Sentinel, critic Jean Yothers wrote that the film "sparkles with snappy dialogue, a parade of smart fashions and a beauty of a hair-pulling, dress-tearing, name-calling fight" and that "several entertaining subplots keep popping up as do a group of musical numbers," but noted that "it does seem an unfortunate waste of talent to have Dolores Gray around and not singing and Ann Miller around and not dancing.

"[14] In the 21st century, a review of the film on AllMovie by Craig Butler reported that "if it's a disappointing and flawed adaptation [of The Women], it's still good fun on its own terms," and noted that it had "a mediocre score with poor and unimaginative lyrics," but that Gray is "a delectable steamroller in her scenes.