Although studio head Jack L. Warner wanted to shoot the movie in Arizona, director Fred Zinnemann insisted on shooting the exteriors on-location in Australia. The shoot did not go well. Zinnemann spent twelve weeks filming scenery and shepherding scenes in the outback before the cast arrived. Once the cast got there, the weather began alternating daily between hot sun and cold rain, which resulted in several extra weeks of filming. Robert Mitchum was so harassed by fans, that he had to move onto a boat to get away from them.
The man who offers to buy the horse at the end was played by Jon Cleary, the author of the novel on which the movie is based. He also did an uncredited rewrite of the script.
Gary Cooper was originally cast in the lead role of Paddy Carmody, but had to back out due to poor health. Errol Flynn replaced him, but died before production began. Robert Mitchum stepped into the role for the chance to act with his good friend Deborah Kerr, with whom he had previously co-starred in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957). Mitchum agreed to give Kerr top billing, joking to the production team, "You can design a twenty-four-foot sign of me bowing to her if you like."
The film's lead actress commented in her auto-biography "Deborah Kerr: Not Just an English Rose" (1986) that she should have won the Academy Award for her performance in this film. She received her sixth Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work in this movie but lost out for the sixth consecutive time. This was the most times an actress had been nominated for Best Actress without winning at least at that time.
The definition of "Sundowner" given in this movie is not the most common one used in Australia. A "Sundowner" was the term used for a swagman who arrived at a homestead or farm just at sundown, in time to ask for a meal or food, but too late to be asked to do any work. The Sundowner usually departed early in the morning, before anyone else was up and before being asked to do some work.
Jon Cleary: Uncredited, the film's source novelist as a man who offers to buy the horse at the end of the movie.
Renee Zinnemann: Uncredited, the wife of the picture's film director Fred Zinnemann as a nun at the railway station.