One of the sources for the film was the novel "The Night Watch" by Thomas Walsh, which was serialized under the title "The Killer Wore a Badge", in the Saturday Evening Post from November 10 to December 15, 1951. The other is the novel "Rafferty" by Bill S. Ballinger.
Kim Novak's first major film role and receives an 'and introducing" credit. She was only twenty-one years old in this performance. Her character, Lona, spoke as if she had a lot more life experience. Novak made two uncredited films at RKO before working on this one - La linea francese (1953) and Il figlio di Sinbad (1955).
Philip Carey starred in the movie advertised on the theater marquee, Le frontiere dei Sioux (1953), also released by Columbia.
The film opens with an establishing shot showing a freeway with the Los Angeles City Hall in the background. This same footage is also used as an opening establishing shot in several Perry Mason (1957) episodes.
At the beginning, outside the cinema, the marquee and posters are advertising La ragazza del secolo (1954), also a Columbia movie that had recently premiered. It was Jack Lemmon's first featured film. Also, there was a poster for Le frontiere dei Sioux (1953), another Columbia release.