Bringing the play to the screen resulted in a years-long struggle with the production code office and the Catholic National Legion of Decency because of the play's inclusion of homosexuality, adultery and prostitution. At one point there was consideration that the film be produced by an independent production company outside of the studio system.
This film was adapted from a Broadway play that originally starred Deborah Kerr, John Kerr and Leif Erickson, who recreate their stage roles in this film. Also in the Broadway cast in supporting roles were Alan Sues (who later appeared on TV's Laugh-In (1967)) and Dick York (the first actor who played Darrin on TV's Ma sorcière bien aimée (1964) starring Elizabeth Montgomery). Joan Fontaine and Anthony Perkins also later appeared in the stage version of "Tea and Sympathy" as cast replacements during its long run. The stage production opened on Sept. 30, 1953 at the Ethel Barrymoore Theatre and ran for 712 performances.
This film was a flop at the box office for MGM resulting in a loss of $220,000 ($2.2M in 2021) according to studio records.
Despite their last names even being pronounced the same, Deborah Kerr and John Kerr are not related.
MGM paid Robert Anderson $100,000 for the rights to his play and promised another $300,000 if he could write a script that would pass the production code.