Cary Grant had sworn never to make another historical film after Howard le révolté (1940) failed both critically and with audiences. He made an exception for this film, which ultimately failed to make a profit, though in this case, his performance was admired by audiences.
Despite the film's production difficulties, Stanley Kramer was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for his work on the picture. Although the film garnered mostly positive reviews, it was not a success at the box office, and in his autobiography, Kramer called the making of this film "one of the most difficult and disappointing experiences" in his career. Kramer blamed the failure of the film on the miscasting and lack of chemistry between the three stars; the difficulty of meshing the story of the gun with the romantic triangle; and his own inability "to see in advance how perilous it was to make a film in which the hero was a thing rather than a human being."
Orgueil et passion (1957) marked Sophia Loren's first appearance in an English-language film. In her autobiography, Loren credited dialogue supervisor Anne P. Kramer, who was the then-wife of director Stanley Kramer, with helping her to learn English and practice her lines every night. Since she spoke little English at the time, her lines were written phonetically.
This was the first of two films Sophia Loren and Cary Grant starred in together. Grant was in love with Loren, and the two had an affair. This had caused a rift with wife, Betsy Drake. But Loren was spooked by his obsession with her, and soon married her agent/mentor Carlo Ponti.