This was the first film in which Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster were teamed. In total, they made seven films together.
The film was based on a play "Beggars Are Coming to Town" by Theodore Reeves which opened on Broadway on October 27, 1945, and ran for 25 performances. It starred Paul Kelly as Frankie Madison and Luther Adler as Dink Turner, former bootleggers. Dorothy Comingore played Florrie Dushanbe. This film was Byron Haskin's first directorial assignment since 1928, having worked as a cameraman in the interim. Haskin felt that the reason none of the cast objected was that as newcomers, they didn't know enough to object.
Early on, Frankie (Burt Lancaster) says to Dave (Wendell Corey) that he is two years older than him but looks ten years older. In reality, Lancaster was the older of the two, albeit by only approximately six months.
Kirk Douglas wrote in his 1988 autobiography, The Ragman's Son: "Burt and I got along then just as we do now: we argued, we fought, we talked, we made up. Somehow, everything worked." Burt Lancaster, who seems to have taken a more ironic view of their relationship, said, "Kirk would be the first to admit he's a difficult person -and I would be the second."
This is the movie that inspired the film noir poster hanging in Rachel's bedroom in Friends (1994) depicting Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott.