Disney worked closely with Volkswagen to promote the sequel. Every each VW dealer had a Bug on display that was made up to look like Herbie, and 300,000 Herbie posters were distributed to dealers to pass on to their customers. If a customer wanted to turn their new Beetle into a Herbie, they could buy a graphics kit from the VW parts department.
The interior of the building that Herbie drives through was the Garden Court of the Sheraton Palace Hotel. The owners allowed Disney to film the scene of Herbie crossing their large regal dining area only after the Herbie used was rigged to run on battery power (no gas exhaust) and the bottom of the car was drip-proofed. It was filmed at a time of day where there is low traffic at the dining area. The diners in the foreground (in front of Herbie rolling through) were actually blue screened in later.
Actor Keenan Wynn reprised his role of the villainous, inept, and extremely short-tempered, "Alonzo Hawk" from both The Absent Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1962) making Herbie Rides Again the only picture outside "The Absent-Minded Professor" films to feature his character role. It is noteworthy that his name has changed from "Alonzo P. Hawk" to "Alonzo A. Hawk."
Alonzo's Herbie nightmare included a scene in an operating room being "treated" by Volkswagons with a Red Cross on the hood. The scene was deleted from the movie, but included in the Viewmaster Reel set.
According to the filmmakers on the DVD documentary for The Love Bug (1969), Herbie's #53 comes from star baseball pitcher Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers.