In the original TV version of the show, Rudolph, Hermey the elf, and Yukon Cornelius visit the Island of Misfit Toys and promise to help them, but the Misfits are never seen again, only mentioned as Santa's first stop before he flies off in his sleigh. After it was shown, the producers were inundated with letters from children complaining that nothing had been done to help the Misfit Toys. In response, Rankin-Bass produced a new short scene at the end of the show in which Santa and his reindeer, led by Rudolph, land on the Island and pick up all the toys to find homes for them. This scene became a part of the standard version of the show run during the holidays.
Copies of both the Santa and Rudolph publicity photo puppets were found in storage in the attic of a woman that used to work for Rankin-Bass. The puppets were in rather poor condition (Santa was missing his eyebrows and half his mustache, and his legs were broken; Rudolph's iconic nose was missing and replaced with red wax), but amazingly survived being stored in a hot attic since the late 1960's. They have since been restored by Screen Novelties to their former glory and now travel the country to various trade shows and conventions.
In 1979, the "We Are Santa's Elves" number was cut entirely from this special for reasons unknown, but it was restored in the 1980s.
Original puppets of Santa and young Rudolph from the 1964 production went on tour in November 2007. When purchased by their new owner, both were in poor condition - Santa had mold under his beard and half of his mustache was gone, while Rudolph's nose was gone. The owner took them to stop-motion animation studio Screen Novelties International and restored them "as a labor of love" for expenses only -- $4000. The puppets originally cost $5000 each in 1964 dollars.
Although the animations were filmed in Japan, the entire soundtrack for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) was recorded in a studio near Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario. Most of the singing and speaking cast were Canadian.