Most of the movie takes place in Kita-Kamakura, about 30 miles from downtown Tokyo. Several years after the release of the film, the director, 'Yasujiro Ozu', moved with his mother to the area and spent the rest of his life there. (His tomb is also located there.) Furthermore, the film's star, Setsuko Hara, also eventually moved to the area and, as of May 2013, reportedly still lived there under her birth name, Masae Aida.
The film was written and shot during the Allied Powers' Occupation of Japan.
The occupying American forces in Japan following World War II censored two specific lines in the script regarding the main character's health and the state of Tokyo. Director Ozu was forced to change these lines in the film.
It is the first installment of Ozu's so-called "Noriko trilogy". The others are Early Summer (Bakushu, 1951) and Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari, 1953).
In the 2012 version of "Greatest Films of All Time" Sight & Sound poll Late Spring appears as the 15th greatest film of all time.