Samuel Fuller was in litigation against Famous Artists Corp. According to the news item, Fuller sold his novel, The Dark Page, to H-F Productions for $15,000, and director Howard Hawks spent $25,000 on pre-production for producer Jules Furthman. Monterey Productions later purchased the novel, then sold it to Motion Pictures Investors, Inc., which then sold it to Columbia for $10,000. In his suit, Fuller claimed the novel's worth was $100,000. A 1951 Hollywood Reporter item indicates that Fuller's successful production of The Steel Helmet (1951) revived interest in producing The Dark Page.
The television set prominently displayed in Mark Chapman's office is a 1951 Zenith round screen table model, a popular style in the early 1950s, which would soon be abandoned in favor of the conventional rectangular screen.
The working title of the film was The Dark Page, same as the source novel.