Billy Wilder began shooting this film in 1946, soon after winning an Oscar for Giorni perduti (1945). That film's great critical reception (and unexpected box-office success) gave Wilder more power and he spent a lot of time and money on this musical (which was his first color film). He was very dissatisfied with the result, however, and the release of the film was extensively delayed, perhaps for re-takes--Wilder liked to say he was hoping to delay its release as long as possible. It opened in Britain a month before its American debut, most unusually, and was a critical and box-office flop. In 1969, he told an interviewer, "I never want to see it again". His next film, Scandalo internazionale (1948), opened in America only three months later.
The film takes place in the Alps but was actually filmed at Jasper National Park in Canada. Billy Wilder spent $20,000 to have pine trees sent from California and planted on location because he was not satisfied with the Canadian pine trees; he also planted 4,000 daisies that were painted blue because he felt white daisies did not photograph well.
One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929-49, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since; its earliest documented telecast took place in Seattle Wednesday 5 November 1958 on KIRO (Channel 7); it first aired in Phoenix Saturday 13 June 1959 on KVAR (Channel 12) and in Denver 5 October 1959 on KBTV (Channel 9); at this time, color broadcasting was in its infancy, limited to only a small number of high rated programs, primarily on NBC and NBC affiliated stations, so these movie showings were all still in black-and-white. Viewers were not offered the opportunity to see these movies in their original Technicolor until several years later. It was released on DVD 6 May 2003, in tandem with La corte di re Artù (1949), as part of Universal's Bing Crosby Collection, and again 11 November 2013 as one of 24 titles in Universal's Bing Crosby Silver Screen Collection.
The audio to the "Emperor Waltz" song was used for a "Schiller Reel" on Il Saturday Night Live (1975) on 12/17/88: "Love is a Dream", featuring Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks, directed by Tom Schiller.