In addition to dubbing Alfonso Bedoya, Peter Sellers also provides the voice for an uncredited Chinese actor playing a guard. These two roles gave Sellers his first film work.
Jack Cardiff recounts how, late in the shoot, Henry Hathaway requested a dozen women for a desert scene. In spite of the remote location, the ever resourceful assistant director, Bluey Hill, returned an hour later with a truck full of Moroccan women. To the amusement of some of the crew, and embarrassment of several electricians and stagehands, the women started greeting several of them by name, as Bluey had hired his extras from the local brothel.
This takes place during the reign of Edward I (1272-1307). Walter makes much of the Norman / Saxon rivalry. Edward was named by his father, Henry III, after the last Anglo Saxon king (and his father's favorite saint), Edward the Confessor. King John (1199-1216) is considered to have been the last of the Norman kings. After that, the kings were considered to be English.
The idea of hiding gems in the lining of their robes before escaping China is borrowed from the Marco Polo accounts.
Orson Welles only took this role so he could get enough money to keep filming Otelo (1951), which took years to complete due to poor financial backing.