In 1997, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
George Pal and his wife Czoka fled Holland as the Nazis were trashing Europe. He saw firsthand the horrors inflicted on innocent, peaceful people by these fascists. When he started making films in America, one of his first was this excellent anti-war piece in which an innocent pair of Dutch lovers are terrorized by the invading Screwball army. The faceless, inhuman, mechanical (literally, made of nuts and bolts), "sieg-hiel"-ing screwballs are a dark parody of the same faceless inhumanity that could mechanically exterminate innocent lives.
It was originally photographed in 3-strip Technicolor. It later became the black-and-white edition by National Telefilm Associates.
It was also included in the 1987 compilation film The Puppetoon Movie.
Master stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen was assigned the job of chief animator. The short, nominated for an Academy Award, marked his first paying job in pictures.