Wissenswertes

Roman Polanski was hired by Dino De Laurentiis to direct this film, but when Polanski fled the country to avoid prosecution on a statutory rape charge, Jan Troell was hired to replace him at the last minute.

Filmed entirely on location in Bora Bora. The island was not the tourist destination it is today, so the production effectively had to build its accommodation. Producer Dino De Laurentiis bought up a plot of land and had a luxury hotel constructed on it. Actor Trevor Howard later claimed that one of the reasons for the film's failure was because De Laurentiis was more interested in his lucrative real estate venture than in his movie.

Composer Nino Rota died two days before the film premiered. This is his final work.

Trevor Howard kept a diary during the making of this film and it goes into much detail about the production's many troubles.

According to Mia Farrow's biography by Sam Rubin and Richard Taylor, the star had a fistfight with co-star Timothy Bottoms, resulting in 16 stitches.