According to Gilligan's Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, he was having trouble casting the right actor for the part of the Skipper. Several had auditioned (including Carroll O'Connor) but Schwartz couldn't find the right guy. While he was having dinner in a Hollywood restaurant, he noticed Alan Hale Jr. dressed in a Civil War uniform, having dinner. Schwartz liked what he saw in Hale and began planning on casting him for the Skipper.
The steamboat used in this movie was originally built and used as the Cotton Blossom, in MGM's Show Boat. It was also used in Raintree County. In the 1970s, it was one of the props auctioned off by the studio.