Screenwriter Edna O'Brien, who adapted her own novel, felt that director Brian G. Hutton "butchered and killed" her work by arbitrarily cutting or adding scenes and dialogue, including the ending.
During filming, just in the middle of a scene, Dame Elizabeth Taylor shouted "Cut." Director Brian G. Hutton asked Taylor what was going on. She replied that she needed to go to the bathroom. Hutton said he was astonished that the great Elizabeth Taylor needed to go to bathroom, because he thought fairies came and took it away in toothpaste tubes. Taylor laughed.
This was not an adaptation by Edna O'Brien of one of her own novels, but an original screenplay. The screenplay was published, unusually, several months before this movie appeared, allowing readers to notice that numerous changes had been made---not with the approval of the author.
Because of the difference in their heights (a foot), Dame Elizabeth Taylor often had to stand on a box in some scenes with Sir Michael Caine.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor had it in her contract that she did not have to start work before 10:00 a.m. She did arrive to the set on time, however, and in a procession of three or four limousines for herself and her entourage.