New York actually plays an important part of Udo Jürgens' life, as he spent several years of his youth in the 50s in New York where he started composing and was also a jazz pianist. There he worked on songs for Shirley Bassey (Reach for the stars) and Frank Sinatra (If I Never Sing Another Song). Also in 1999 he married his girlfriend Corinna Reinhold in New York. The two were divorced in 2006.
When being asked to join the performance on stage in the ball room, Lisa Wartberg (Heike Makatsch) gives her name as Liliane to disguise her identity. Liliane is one of the ladys mentioned in the lyrics of "Aber bitte mit Sahne" (1976) from Udo Jürgens.
After Im weißen Rössl - Wehe Du singst! (2013) is this the second musical movie for which Jan Berger worked on the screenplay for.
While most of the songs are mostly based on the original lyrics of the original Udo Jürgens songs, the songs "Vielen Dank für die Blumen", "Aber bitte mit Sahne" (changed to "Auf der Maximiliane") have complete new lyrics, with the exception of the chorus. "Ich will - ich kann" has a new second verse and bridge, which was not in the original song.
Several plot elements from the original musical are changed for the movie. E.g. Lisa is not about to get fired in the original musical production and was not able to attend an award show. Furthermore Maria didn't lose her memory and knew Otto already in her elderly home and didn't met him on the ship first, as in the movie.