Linda Hayden has said in interviews that production was delayed because of health problems of major cast members: Dame Elizabeth Taylor's heart and back problems and Laurence Harvey battling cancer.
Production was suspended for most of August of 1972 because Laurence Harvey underwent an "emergency appendectomy" as it was reported in the press at the time. It was actually an operation for stomach cancer that would eventually kill him in November of 1973.
During the shooting of the movie, Billie Whitelaw's son was ill and sent to hospital. The shooting stopped but resumed two weeks later after Whitelaw returned from her son.
The Broadway play of the same title upon which this movie was based opened at the Morosco Theatre, 217 W. 45th St., on February 28, 1972 and ran for 121 performances until June 10, 1972.