The movie started filming in March 1986 but did not debut theatrically until March 1988 which was about almost exactly two years later.
The picture was funded under the famed and notorious 10BA Australian film funding and financing scheme.
The name of the play which an Australian theatre production was staged was ''The Green Year Passes''.
American singer Laura Branigan was imported to Australia to headline this picture. She arrived in the country during February 1986 which was about a month before the start of principal photography. The production shoot for the movie reportedly commenced on 7th March 1986.
Producer Frank Howson cast Laura Branigan in the lead female role after seeing her music video for her "The Lucky One" song [See: Laura Branigan: The Lucky One (1984)]. according to the article "Producer and Writer Frank Howson on Laura Branigan , the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, the Art of Creation and more..." published in the 13th July 2019 edition of the online 'Cult Film Alley' magazine, Howson said: ''I suddenly got the idea that if the lead character of "Backstage" was changed to be a pop star wanting to be taken seriously as an actress and her only offer was from a producer in Australia, we had a film that would be modern, relevant, funny and say something meaningful about how we categorise and box artists in and restrict their growth."