The movie's theme song for the Miss United States Pageant was written by screenwriter Marc Lawrence and his 7-year-old son, Clyde Lawrence. Marc wrote the lyrics and Clyde wrote the music.
At one point in the movie, Gracie calls Victor "Henry Higgins", a reference to George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion".
There is a scene from the trailer, which is missing in the final version of the film: Her father asks her if she's a lesbian. She laughs and answers "I wish".
Sandra Bullock's line "I'm glidin' here!" to the driver of the taxi that almost hits her is a reference to Dustin Hoffman's classic line "Hey! I'm walkin' here!" from Midnight Cowboy (1969).
Cheryl "Rhode Island's" answer to the question "What is your idea of a perfect date?" was actually used as an answer in a real beauty pageant.
In the control booth at the Miss United States Pageant, there is a visible sign in the background of a Canadian Maple Leaf in the middle of a red circle with a red slash through it. Although it had been denied that it was put there on purpose, it is supposed to be an "inside joke/purposeful comment" on how many movies are now being made in Canada. (Mostly due to the lower production costs up there due to the pitiful exchange rate between the U.S. and Canadian dollar...at least a 40% savings on crew wages, hotel costs, etc.)
Directly after the make-over scene, Gracie emerges while "Mustang Sally" plays loudly. The dress she wore during that sequence was entirely made up of rubber bands. When she held the "gown", it could fit in the palm of her hand.
An extra playing a pageant judge looked so much like wrestler Jesse Ventura that director Donald Petrie jokingly referred to him by that name during filming. It is not, however, actually Jesse Ventura in the role.
Hungarian title translates to: "undercover beauty".
The song performed by the opera singer in the talent contest is from Mozart's "The Magic Flute".
Sandra Bullock owns the house in Austin, Texas where some scenes were filmed.
Austin filming for the movie occurred in May/June of 2000. Many local Austin locations were used in the film such as the Dog and Duck Pub (where Gracie eats ice cream) and the Cue Lounge (featured in the botched mission at the beginning of the film) among others. The Starbucks scene was shot in the middle of downtown Austin, just blocks from the Texas State Capital. To make the Austin streets appear more "New York like", brown plastic bags of fake trash were put around the buildings while fake NYC taxi cabs cruised the streets. Although a stunt driver was used while filming shots where Gracie tears across the intersection and parks wildly in front of the Starbucks, Bullock did some of her own stunt driving in several takes, skills she had learned while making Speed (1994). The scenes were filmed on location at the Starbucks located at One American Center on 6th and Congress. The whole Starbucks scene was filmed over an entire day before wrapping around 6-7pm. The car scene alone took at least 5-7 takes and most of the afternoon in the hot Texas summer sun. To combat the heat, an assistant held an umbrella over Bullock as she got in and out of the car between shots. The interior scene only took a few hours in the late afternoon, early evening to shoot.
Screenwriter Marc Lawrence named the main character, Gracie, after his daughter Grace.
After the morning briefing, Gracie and the captain walk past a picture of Gracie's mom on the wall.
The people working in Starbucks were actual Starbucks employees.
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