The autobiography of which the film is based on was originally published under the name 'Through the Valley of the Kwai' (and later as 'Miracle on the River Kwai') and then when this film was made, the same as this film's title ('To End All Wars'). This book also acted as a basis for David Lean's Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï (1957).
According to the film's closing epilogue, after World War 2, Captain Ernest Gordon became Dean of the Chapel at Princeton University for twenty-six years (becoming the Reverend Ernest Gordon) whilst former Japanese Imperial Translator Takashi Nagase became a Buddhist monk. Moreover, fifty-five years after World War II, Gordon and former Nagase met at the Death Railway Cementery in Thailand, which is depicted in-part at the end of this film.
Filmed in chronological order.
The film's dedication during the closing credits is to Captain Ernest 'Ernie' Gordon who is played by Ciarán McMenamin in the film. The dedication states that the film is made In Memory of Ernest Gordon, 31 May 1916 - 16 January 2002.
The opening prologue states: "The following account is based on actual events during World War II, when 61,000 Allied POWs were forced to build the Thailand-Burma Railway."