This film is a remake of the silent film The Racket (1928) which was directed by Lewis Milestone, starred Thomas Meighan and Louis Wolheim and was focused on the exploits of a bootlegger. Racket (1951) was indirectly based on a play by Bartlett Cormack. (Edward G. Robinson played the racketeer in the original Broadway production.) Both movies were produced by Howard Hughes.
One of the images in the opening credits - of a car driving past a waterfront warehouse, with skyscrapers in the background - is the same shot from the opening credits of Quand la ville dort (1950). The shot is location footage of Cincinnati, OH, which is where Quand la ville dort (1950) took place.
The film's director John Cromwell was in the Broadway play "The Racket" which opened on November 27, 1927 at the Ambassador Theatre, 219 W. 49th St. and ran for 119 performances until March, 1928. He starred as McQuigg, the role played in the film by Robert Mitchum.
Ray Collins and William Talman costarred in the TV series Perry Mason (1957), as police lieutenant Arthur Tragg and prosecutor Hamilton Burger, respectively.
Location shooting took place in North Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles and the RKO Ranch in Encino, CA.