Claude Rains made history by being the first actor to receive a salary of US$1,000,000 for his portrayal of Julius Caesar.
The role of Caesar originally was offered to Sir John Gielgud, who turned it down because he detested Director Gabriel Pascal.
Amongst Director Gabriel Pascal's extravagances was building his own sphinx and having it hauled into the desert. Executive Producer J. Arthur Rank allowed it because he hoped the movie's success would allow him to make additional historical movies. However, it was a box-office failure upon release and caused the J. Arthur Rank Organization to scrub Pascal's next project, "The Snow Goose", with a loss of US$30,000 (£7,500).
This movie was shot during World War II, which resulted in production being halted repeatedly, due to German bombing raids. The war also hampered the production's ability to get necessary materials, so the crew had to do the best they could with what they had.
The film's original budget was £550,000 (US$2.2 million). Due to delays from World War II which forced its production to move from London to Egypt, this became the most expensive film production up to this point (1945), costing an astronomical £1.25M (US $5M), beating the previous record-holder Autant en emporte le vent (1939). Its record as the world's most expensive film production would not be beaten until Duel au soleil (1946).