Angel's Flight funicular railway began service in 1901 and after numerous shutdowns and being moved from the original location, it resumed service in downtown Los Angeles until the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The iconic orange/red arch seen in the series continues to grace the lower end of the tracks. The funicular also was featured in an episode of the CBS version of Perry Mason (1957): The Case of the Twice-Told Twist (1966), which was the only episode the series filmed in color. The cars travel at a 33 percent grade for 315 feet and is allegedly the shortest rail road line in the world. As of 2020, the fare is $1.00 for a one way trip.
The series is meant to be more like the early, darker novels of Erle Stanley Gardner written in the 1930s, when the series takes place, where Perry Mason is more hands-on with his investigations.
Sister Alice (Tatiana Maslany) is based on the early twentieth-century Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, also known as "Sister Aimee," a controversial 1920s and 1930s celebrity. As demonstrated by the first scene of Sister Alice's sermonizing, McPherson pioneered the use of modern media in religious services, using radio to draw on the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch. McPherson encountered controversy and a downturn in her popularity with the press and public after a mysterious 1926 incident: she disappeared for five weeks, and when she reappeared in Mexico she claimed to have been kidnapped (even though some investigations suggested she had actually gone on a vacation with a man she used to employ). After a period of financial difficulty she and the temple did regain some of her popularity; she died in 1944. Sister Alice is one in a long line of fictional characters who have been inspired by Aimee Semple McPherson; others include Sharon Falconer in Sinclair Lewis's novel Elmer Gantry, Big Sister in Nathanael West's novel The Day of the Locust, Mrs. Melrose Ape in the novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, Florence Fallon in Frank Capra's movie The Miracle Woman, and Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes.
Many of the Downtown Los Angeles sequences were shot in San Pedro, California.
The camera Perry Mason uses is a Kodak Duo Six-20, original model, which was made between 1933 (the year after this show takes place) and 1937, when it was replaced by the Duo Six-20 Series II. The camera initially sold for $52.50 US ($1035 in 2020). The camera, as the name implies, uses 620 film. While 620 film is no longer made, it only differs from 120 film in the size of the spool it uses. By doing either slight modifications to the 120's spool or putting the 120 film on an empty 620 spool yourself, or purchasing it from someone who will do that for you, you can still use this camera today.