I think if you right click on a city you can change the production or even rush the actual item being built without opening the city screen; i dont remember, been 1 week since i played, but i do remember i found a way to manage the city without opening the screen to avoid those damn ambient sounds.
"In the options menu you can, audio options, you can uncheck 'ambient' or mute it. This gets rid of the very very annoying sounds of the city screen"
-Mice
Great to know!