Author H.G. Wells disliked this movie adaptation of his novel of the same title. Wells felt the film's emphasis on horror overshadowed the novel's philosophical themes.
Paramount held a national contest to find a woman to play Lota the Panther Woman. A reported 60,000 women participated in this contest.
In response to British censors who claimed the film was "against nature," Charles Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester is said to have stated, "Of course it's against nature. So's Mickey Mouse!"
All the fog seen in this film was real. Some scenes from Insel der verlorenen Seelen (1932) was shot on location on Catalina Island, CA. Some footage was filmed on SS Catalina which had encountered real fog as called for in the script.