Ronald Colman was a frequent guest on Jack Benny's radio show, where he was supposedly Jack's next-door neighbor in Beverly Hills. A 1946 broadcast had Colman rehearsing his recital of the poem, "If I Were King," only to find himself being drowned out by Jack's violin playing from next door.
Charles Boyer reportedly turned down the lead role.
This marked the second Oscar nomination that art director Hans Dreier received for working on the same story. He had been nominated for working on Le Vagabond roi (1930), which was a musical version of "If I Were King".
William Farnum, who plays Gen. Barbezier, starred as Villon in the first film version of If I Were King (1920).