Humphrey Bogart was a last minute replacement for Cary Grant (supposedly, Grant rejected the part because he did not want to carry an umbrella onscreen). Bogart and William Holden couldn't stand each other. Bogart disapproved of Audrey Hepburn (he wanted his wife Lauren Bacall in the role), while Holden fell in love with her. Bogart got $300,000, Holden got $150,000, and Hepburn only $15,000. Asked how he liked working with Hepburn, Bogart replied: "It's OK, if you don't mind to make a dozen takes."
Ernest Lehman, whom Paramount borrowed from MGM, worked frantically to complete the script during filming and eventually suffered a nervous breakdown. One scene was written during a lunch break and shot that afternoon in seventy-two takes.
Although Hubert de Givenchy provided Audrey Hepburn's wardrobe, Edith Head won an Oscar for Best Costumes, as Givenchy is uncredited. Head, as the film's official costume designer, was given credit for the costumes, although the Academy's votes were obviously for Hepburn's attire. Head did not refuse the Oscar. In a 1974 interview, Head stated that she was responsible for creating the dresses, with inspiration from some Givenchy designs that Hepburn liked, but that she made important changes, and the dresses were not by Givenchy. After Head's death, Givenchy stated that Sabrina's iconic black cocktail dress was produced at Paramount under Head's supervision, but claimed it was his design.
During production Billy Wilder was continuously working on the script. One day he asked Audrey Hepburn to feign illness so he would have enough time to finish the scene to be shot.
The film began a lifelong association between costume designer Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn.
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