This was Robert Taylor's favorite of his films, even though he was generally felt to be miscast as a British officer.
The scene in which Myra and Roy dance to "Auld Lang Syne" was supposed to have dialogue, but nobody could come up with the right words. At about 3:00 in the morning before shooting the scene was to take place, Mervyn LeRoy, a veteran of silent films, realized that there shouldn't be any lines and that the images should speak for themselves. The result is the most celebrated scene of the film.
Released a few months after the German and Soviet invasion of Poland, and in the middle of the invasion of France and the Low Countries, this is likely the earliest Hollywood film to include the Second World War in its plot.
Vivien Leigh wanted Laurence Olivier to play Roy Cronin. MGM however insisted he would play Mr. Darcy in Orgueil et préjugés (1940), which was shot at the same time as Waterloo Bridge.