The famous poster for the film shows a menacing robot carrying a struggling pretty girl - a staple of monster movie posters from the 1950's. In fact, no such scene occurs in the film itself and the robot portrayed in the poster is the very likeable Robby the Robot.
First mainstream film to have the music performed entirely by electronic instruments.
This film marked one of the first times a science-fiction project had received a large budget. The genre had rarely been taken seriously by studio executives, and sci-fi films generally received the most meager of budgets. The critical success of this film convinced many in the film industry that well-funded science-fiction projects could be successful. Film historian Ben Mankiewicz has claimed that this film's success made future big-budget science-fiction films possible.
The reaction from the preview audience was so positive that the movie was released as it was, with no further changes. That is why there are several rapid takes toward the end.
Filmed on the same stage as Le Magicien d'Oz (1939) 17 years earlier; the set of Altaira's garden is a re-use of the Munchkin Village set.