Desert footage was shot by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack in 1937 for an unmade film on the life of Lawrence of Arabia..
Film debut of Michael Ansara.
The opening sequence with a map showing North Africa imitates the opening of the previous year's Casablanca including utilizing Lou Marcelle as narrator.
When Chalmers and Gordon get off the plane, they overhear Leroux giving a different name than he used on the plane. They refer to a scene that was obviously cut out of the finished print.