Star Sylvia Kristel was apparently fairly unhappy that she was not approached regarding the English-language dub of the film, as she herself spoke fluent English and felt she was capable of doing the job herself.
This is a relatively rare example of an X-rated, erotic movie released in the USA by a major movie distributor (Columbia Pictures). Apparently, this came about because the movie had been particularly popular in France among women. The company reasoned that the movie would not be regarded as pornographic as long as women liked it.
The film was originally denied permits to film in Thailand, in part due to its sexual content. The filmmakers only managed to do so by presenting an earlier, family-oriented version of the script they had no intention of shooting, and later pretending that they were merely shooting a documentary film of the local sites. In an interview, Sylvia Kristel said they filmed most of the sex scenes in secure locations. However they did get caught once. She and another woman were being filmed nude under a waterfall and the police turned up. They were thrown in jail for a night while the producers sorted everything out. But then they had an offer to help from a surprising source. It turned out the prince of Thailand was a huge fan of films and had his own studio built near the palace, so he let them use that for the rest of the shoot.
Some of this film's score stole King Crimson's tune called "Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part 2", which was composed by the band's leader Robert Fripp. A lawsuit ensued and was settled out of court.
Ended its run at the Paris Triomphe cinema, on the Champs-Elysées, on February 6th 1985, which had been shown here since its June 1974 release.