Trivia

Richard Burton was the first choice for the lead but he dropped out after he was offered the lead in Alexandre le Grand (1956) at what Lewis Gilbert describes as "three or four times the salary".

In the same year this film was released Douglas Bader caused great controversy with his racist remarks on the public statements of African Commonwealth nations in regard to the Suez Crisis. In response to some of the more recent Commonwealth countries criticizing white colonial rule and the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt, Bader said they could "bloody well climb back up their trees".

Kenneth More initially felt he was too old to play Bader.

The success of the film in the UK confirmed the middle-aged Kenneth More's status as a major star of British films.

According to Lewis Gilbert, Douglas Bader was difficult to deal with.

"When he read the script he said I had made a terrible hash of it because I'd cut out a lot of his friends. I pointed out that the book contained hundreds of names and I had to cut it down or else the film would run for three days. He said, 'That's your problem. If you don't get my friends in, I won't double for the film,' because he was going to double for Kenneth More in long shots. explained to him that that wouldn't stop the film being made; I said that we would undoubtedly find someone with a disability similar to his - which he did. In fact a number of his friends had helped me with the script, although we didn't tell Douglas that. Douglas wasn't in the film at all".