This film won the Best Writing, Original Story Oscar for its only Academy Award nomination.
This was the biggest moneymaker of the William Powell-Kay Francis collaborations, grossing about $1.1 million ($21.8 million in 2021 dollars) worldwide on a $350,000 ($6.9 million in 2021 dollars) cost of production.
The bartender makes a "Paradise" cocktail for Dan. It was invented in 1930 and is made of gin, apricot brandy, and orange juice (2:1:1 ratio) with a splash of lemon juice, served in a chilled Martini glass.
Dan wanted to hop on a ship to Mexico because at the time extradition of criminals - especially murderers - from Mexico to the U.S. was nearly impossible. That changed in 1978 when the two countries signed a bilateral extradition treaty. Since the early 21st Century the pace of extraditions has steadily increased. Between 2003 and 2011 more than 2,000 criminals were captured in Mexico and brought back to the U.S. for prosecution.
Although the character's name would change, Frank McHugh plays the same part in the remake titled Camino a la eternidad (1940).