In an interview with American Movie Classics just before his death, Anthony Perkins admitted he was not up to the task of directing this film, feeling his technical knowledge to be too limited.
It was Anthony Perkins's idea to use the unique scene transitions - like the light under a door that is actually a knife, and the scene where Norman leaves the hospital, and closes the door and finds himself in Mother's room.
Despite this being Anthony Perkins directorial debut, the cast and crew have stated that they enjoyed working with him throughout the production.