During the boarding of the lifeboats, Norman Sturges (Harper Carter) changes seats with a woman who arrives at the last moment when the boat was completely full. This was inspired by the action of a Mexican passenger in first class named Manuel Uruchurtu, who did the same thing to a woman from second class who was refused a seat on the lifeboat. After he gave up his seat to her, he asked her to travel to Mexico, if she survived, and tell his wife what happened. His body was never found.
The filming of the disaster had a powerful effect on Barbara Stanwyck, who recalled: "The night we were making the scene of the dying ship in the outdoor tank at Twentieth, it was bitter cold. I was 47 feet up in the air in a lifeboat swinging on the davits. The water below was agitated into a heavy rolling mass and it was thick with other lifeboats full of women and children. I looked down and thought: If one of these ropes snaps now, it's goodbye for you. Then I looked up at the faces lined along the rail - those left behind to die with the ship. I thought of the men and women who had been through this thing in our time. We were re-creating an actual tragedy and I burst into tears. I shook with great racking sobs and couldn't stop."
Audrey Dalton commented that Barbara Stanwyck was very good to her, highlighting how Stanwyck helped her in a scene where the two of them walked out of the dining room in a long shot. Stanwyck was very thin while Dalton was fuller in the hips, and their contrasting figures looked awkward in the shot. So Stanwyck worked out with the director where she would extend her arm around Dalton's shoulder as they walked away, hiding Dalton's backside behind Stanwyck's gown.
To ensure authenticity, the producers recruited a former captain of the Queen Elizabeth as a technical consultant, and no background music was played during the feature film. The only music heard was that of the musicians aboard the ship.
Barbara Stanwyck and Bert Stevens (who plays one of the passengers) were real-life sister and brother.