Erich Wolfgang Korngold was assigned to score this film when shooting began in 1945 and even sketched some themes. When production was postponed until 1947 (due to Errol Flynn's illness and other problems) Max Steiner replaced Korngold because, by then, he had announced his retirement from motion pictures. In October 1947 he suffered a heart attack and, in spite of pleas from Leo F. Forbstein, Music Chief at Warners, Korngold refused to return to the studio.
Errol Flynn did not wear a wig and let his naturally curly hair grow for the role. The producers were worried about it becoming unruly during the climactic fight scenes, so it was decided that he wear a bandanna.
Claude Rains was originally cast as the Duke de Lorca.
A 1945 trade publication announced that Claudette Colbert was being considered for a role as a French aristocrat, but by the time this film came out in 1948, that role no longer existed.
Although Raoul Walsh was originally slated to direct this project in 1945, Errol Flynn had a falling-out with him, and by 1947 Michael Curtiz, who had directed some of Flynn's greatest early films until he and Flynn had a falling-out, too, was assigned to the project. As production neared, Jean Negulesco replaced Curtiz, but Negulesco bowed out in favor of the film's ultimate director, Vincent Sherman.
At the end of the film, the young woman in the coach asking Don Juan for directions is Errol Flynn's wife, Nora Eddington.
Besides footage from The Adventures of Robin Hood for Don Juan's escape into the night - footage also from The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was used for Don Juan's entry into London. A ten year younger Errol Flynn can clearly be seen as Essex in the distant shots as he leads his entourage through London to the palace just as Don Juan is doing in the later film
Film editor Alan Crosland Jr.'s father, Alan Crosland, was the director of the original Don Juan, with John Barrymore, who was a close friend of Errol Flynn, the star of this film.
Finnish censorship visa # 030459.
French visa # 8575.
In "The Films of Errol Flynn," it was alleged that Errol Flynn's drinking necessitated a good deal of "shooting around" him, but on the DVD commentary director Vincent Sherman says that this only happened once.
The last of 13 films that Alan Hale appeared in with close friend Errol Flynn. Hale died on 22 January 1950, just over a year following this film's release.
The scene when Don Juan (Errol Flynn) is seen escaping on horseback over the castle drawbridge and into the forest through a triangular beam of light shining through the trees is footage taken from The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Warners considered filming this project with Errol Flynn twice previously, on 1939 and 1945. The 1945 proposed production was scuttled by a labor dispute. It was to be directed by Raoul Walsh, scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and co-star Victor Francen and Rosemary DeCamp as the King and Queen, with George Coulouris as the Duke. Only Jerry Austin and Alan Hale survived from the 1945 production, although S.Z. Sakall was also considered for the Leporello role.
With the failure of Errol Flynn's non-action films Escape Me Never and Never Say Goodbye, Warners producer Jerry Wald argued that the star should return to a large-scale swashbuckler, especially after Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk and The Adventures of Robin Hood had enjoyed recent successful theatrical revivals. Unfortunately for Flynn, this film continued his string of critical and financial flops, and the budgets of subsequent Flynn films were reduced considerably.