Trivia

The 40-foot alien monster was actually a marionette about 15 inches high. It was essentially a combination of a rat, bat, spider, and crab.

Director Ib Melchior was given just 9 days to shoot the film, on a budget of $200,000.

$54,000 - or just over a quarter of the film's budget - was spent turning the footage into the so-called Cinemagic process.

The much-touted Cinemagic process which was used for the scenes set on Mars was actually the result of a film-developing mistake. The budget was slashed mid-production so the producers considered turning the film into black and white to keep costs down. However, one reel became accidentally double-exposed which produced a shimmering, vaguely psychedelic glare that director Ib Melchior latched onto, thinking it would suit his purposes for the Mars scenes. (It also helped to camouflage the cheap Martian monsters and scenery.)

The Martian was played by 4'2" actor Billy Curtis. Its voice was performed by 6'9" actor Ted Cassidy.