The song Wonka sings on the boat ride ("There's no earthly way of knowing... ") are the only song lyrics taken directly from Roald Dahl's book. All other songs were written specifically for the film.

Peter Ostrum, the actor who plays Charlie Bucket, made no other films. He became a veterinarian. Julie Dawn Cole is the only one from the Wonka kids who is still acting.

Mike Teavee's father's line, "Not 'till you're twelve, son" took over forty takes to film. Why? I don't know!

The picture held up by the Paraguayan newscaster announcing the finder of the last Golden Ticket is of Nazi henchman Martin Bormann.

Before entering the Inventing Room, Willy Wonka gives an introductory speech in German, with an accent, but otherwise phonetically and grammatically correct. It goes "Meine Herrschaften, schenken Sie mir Ihre Aufmerksamkeit. Sie kommen jetzt in den interessantesten und gleichzeitig geheimsten Raum meiner Fabrik. Meine Damen und Herren: der 'Inventing Room'". He even pronounces the German R correctly, and says 'Inventing Room' with a proper German accent. The speech translates: "Ladies and gentlemen, please give me your attention. You now come into the most interesting room of my factory, the most secret room at the same time. Ladies and gentlemen: the 'Inventing Room'."

The film was originally financed by the Quaker Oats Company. They wanted to tie the film to a new candy bar they were going to release, so the movie was renamed from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in order to promote this candy tie-in. When the film was released, the company began marketing its Wonka chocolate bars, but unfortunately, an error in the chocolate formula caused the bars to melt too easily, even while on the shelf, and so they were taken off the market. Nestle now owns the Wonka Candy Company.

Most of the chocolate bars in the film were actually made of wood.

All six members of Monty Python: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, expressed interest in playing the lead role, but they were deemed not big enough names for an international audience.

The Boeing 707 shown in the film having Wonka Bars unloaded, named "Jet Clipper Climax," was destroyed in a crash in Bali, Indonesia in 1974 with 107 lives lost.

Director Mel Stuart initially wanted to reveal that Willy Wonka had strategically placed the golden tickets in order to give the factory to Charlie. The idea was dropped, but the hints remained in the fact that Mr. Wilkinson (aka "Slugworth") conveniently showed up every time a ticket was uncovered.

When Peter Ostrum was offered the part, there was no script. So the studio sent him the book.

Several days after filming, the blue make-up on Denise Nickerson's face started resurfacing from her pores while she was in math class.