According to director J. Lee Thompson, in an interview in Yul Brynner: The Man Who Was King (1995), there was a misunderstanding with the hundreds of Argentine gauchos playing horsemen . They were told that horsemen who fell off their horse during an attack scene would be paid extra--but only those who were directed to do so. When the scene was shot, two-thirds of them fell off their horses and expected the extra pay. Upon being told they were not going to be paid extra, they threatened to strike. Yul Brynner then took steak dinners out to their encampment that evening and spent hours entertaining them. Impressed by this, the gauchos returned to work the next day.
Yul Brynner wanted to capture the essence of Nikolay Gogol's novel in the film. By the time it reached the screen, it was dismissed as just another routine action picture in Cossack clothing--the very thing Brynner had hoped to avoid. According to his son Rock, his father never again invested much, if any, of himself in his remaining screen work.
Tony Curtis plays Yul Brynner's son, but Curtis was only five years younger than Brynner in real life. Curtis is also a "college student", at the age of 37, in this movie.
Originally intended as a major roadshow production, this was severely cut prior to release, much reducing Yul Brynner's part and greatly angering the star.