'Schadenfreude' is a German word meaning a feeling of pleasure caused by something bad happening to another person.
James Lipton was invited to appear in the film when John Cusack appeared on Inside the Actors Studio (1994).
Scamper was originally to be introduced while hanging himself as Igor returns to the castle at the beginning of the movie. This is included in the novelization of the film but was cut from the actual release.
After Doctor Glickenstein's final disaster Scamper says "Finally, now I can throw out that rug in the foyer. That thing is hideous. We were all thinking it, I just said it" is a nod to the rug in The Big Lebowski (1998) which Steve Buscemi also starred in as Donny.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first computer-animated film and first theatrically released animated feature since All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996).