The role of Anthony John was originally written for Laurence Olivier, who was unavailable when the film finally went into production.
After shooting wrapped, George Cukor presented Shelley Winters with a bust of Ronald Colman. The novice actress responded by giving him a box of pills for stomach cramps and heartburn.
Ronald Colman, who had never performed any William Shakespeare before, considered Anthony John to be his most satisfying film role.
The "Othello" scenes were filmed separately and in the exact order in which they occur in Shakespeare's play, so as to give Ronald Colman the feeling that he was really appearing in "Othello." Colman felt uneasy about performing Shakespeare, so director George Cukor and Shakespearean actor Walter Hampden, who acted as coach and advisor for these scenes, tried to make Colman as comfortable as possible in them.
This was the first of five collaborations between George Cukor and the husband-and-wife writing team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon between 1947 and 1980.