The villa where Michael and Cathy stayed is located in Oia, Santorini. It was purchased by a couple in 1987 and now exists as a gift shop named "Summer Lovers".
Valérie Quennessen played a working archaeologist. The production secured an unprecedented permission to film at an actual dig at Akrotiri, on the Mediterranean island of Santorini (Thera), believed by some to be the inspiration for Plato's Atlantis. Instructed by a real archaeologist, Quennessen set to work before the cameras in an area of the site selected for light and production values. Quennessen had hardly started when, much to the joy of everyone, she uncovered several pieces of 3500-year-old pottery. They were turned in and added to the scientific collection.
Santorini, one of the Greek island filming locations, is a tiny isle in the Greek Aegean and is 9000 miles from Hollywood and hosted the bulk of the filming for the movie. Also known by its ancient name, Thira, the island is a huge volcano, the center of which disappeared in a terrific explosion in about 1500 B.C. It it widely believed that this cataclysm wherein half the island slid into the sea, together with the attendant tidal wave which destroyed Minoan Crete, gave rise to the legend of the lost continent of Atlantis.
The movie was notable for its soundtrack which included The Pointer Sisters's "I'm so Excited" and the top-of-the-pops hit "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" from rock band Chicago, the movie greatly helping that tune escalate the music charts to the No. #1.