The working title of this film was The Hollywood Revue of 1933. According to a 6 Mar 1934 DV news item, the title was briefly changed to Star Spangled Banquet. The picture was intended as a follow-up to M-G-M's The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which was also produced by Harry Rapf (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.2553). Although no director is listed in the onscreen credits, contemporary sources indicate that Allan Dwan, Richard Boleslawski, George Stevens and Charles Riesner directed different sections of the film. Boleslawski was assigned to the film in mid-Aug 1933, and a 4 Oct 1933 FD news item pointed out that Stevens was handling the comedy sequences. Dwan was engaged in mid-Jan 1934 to direct additional sequences, and Reisner was assigned in early Mar 1934 to finish the film. Other directors listed by contemporary sources were Edmund Goulding (who, according to a HR news item, resigned because he "knew nothing about the handling of low comedy") and Russell Mack. Their participation in the completed film has not been confirmed, however. According to modern sources, Roy Rowland was also one of the film's uncredited directors, while Alexander Leftwich, who was assigned to direct, was taken off the film before production began.
       Goulding and Reisner were also among the many writers listed by contemporary sources as contributing to the film's screenplay. Some of the other writers and songwriters listed in contemporary news items and company records located at the USC Cinema-Television library are: Ritchie Craig, Jr, Clarence Hennecke, Henry Myers, Harvey Gates, Robert Hopkins and Bert Green. Modern sources credit Edgar Allan Woolf with the original story and Herbert Fields with dialogue. The contribution of these writers to the final script has not been confirmed.
       Contemporary news items and company records listed a wide variety of actors and actresses who were to appear in the film, although they were not in the completed picture. Among them were: Joan Crawford (who was to appear in a production number entitled "Black Diamond," about a light-skinned black woman who attempts to pass for white), Jean Harlow (who was to play a hotel night operator), Johnny Weissmuller (who was to appear with a swimming chorus), Frank Morgan, Buddy Rogers , Marie Dressler, Ed Wynn, Lee Tracy and Nils Asther. Among those whose participation in the completed picture has not been confirmed are: The Albertina Rasch Ballet, Mary Carlisle, Florine McKinney, Muriel Evans, Marcia Ralston, Jean Howard, Ruth Channing, Margaret McConnell, Martha Sleeper, Dorothy Short, Agnes Anderson, Pauline Brooks, Linda Parker, Jean Parker, David Landau, Russell Hardie, Herman Bing and Max Baer. Jack Pearl played "Baron Munchausen" in another 1934 M-G-M film, Meet the Baron (see below). According to a 23 Apr 1934 HR news item, the film was re-edited following a preview in Atlanta. According to another HR news item, Hollywood Party was banned in Germany.
       Although Mickey Mouse had briefly appeared in the 1933 Fox film My Lips Betray (see below), this was the first feature film for which Disney created new animation of Mickey. In the picture, Mickey appears in a live-action sequence with Jimmy Durante and introduces "Hot Chocolate Soldiers," which was done in the style of a Disney Silly Symphony cartoon. According to a modern source, the animated portions were deleted, and Disney's name blacked out of the onscreen credits, when M-G-M released the film to television because Disney retained the television rights. In 1992, however, Turner Entertainment released Hollywood Party on video in a version that does contain the animated sequences and Disney's credit. According to information in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the picture's original ending was set in a nudist camp, but protests from state censor boards prompted M-G-M to furnish the ending described above, which was in the print viewed. No other information about the nudist camp sequences has been found.
       Modern sources note that Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote several songs that were not included in the completed film. One of them, "Prayer," was to be sung by Jean Harlow. Its lyrics were later rewritten and the song was retitled "Manhattan Melodrama," and then "The Bad in Ev'ry Man," the title under which it was included in the 1934 Cosmopolitan production Manhattan Melodrama (see below). The lyrics were rewritten once again and the song was finally titled "Blue Moon." In 1983, an English record label produced and released an album of some of the Rodgers and Hart songs written for, but not included in, Hollywood Party.
       Modern sources include the following actors in the cast: Rychard Cramer and Nora Cecil (Scientific pedants); Baldwin Cooke (Doorman); Sidney Bracy (Butler); Irene Hervey (Showgirl); Frank Austin (Party guest); Ray Cooke (Theater patron); Ernie Alexander (Servant at the party); and Bess Flowers. Modern sources also state that Walt Disney provided the voice of Mickey Mouse.