Budgeted at a mere $225,000, which was extremely low even by RKO standards, this picture netted a rather impressive $262,000 in profits.
According to Lucille Ball's biographer, Charles Higham, Ball spent much of her time during production fending off the unwanted advances of co-star Chester Morris. The crude advances of the soon-to-be-divorced Morris, production delays, daily feuds with director John Farrow, and closer-than-desired encounters with wildlife that had stowed away in some of the trees that had been brought on set as props made this an unpleasant shoot for Ball.
According to Turner Classic Movies, there were real trees on the set for the jungle scenes. In one scene, Lucille Ball was leaning against one of the prop trees and spiders crawled out of it and into her hair, sending her and the rest of the cast screaming and running.
Persistent heavy rains and John Carradine briefly being incapacitated from an illness slowed production and made the film run well beyond its allotted shooting schedule.
Lucille Ball and director John Farrow frequently clashed on set. Farrow had a reputation for harshly criticizing his actors and for setting a schedule of lengthy and grueling work days. Ball characterized Farrow as verbally abusive, particularly after tensions flared once production had fallen behind schedule.