MGM inherited the production when the company was founded in 1924; with the film over budget and getting out of control, the studio halted production and relocated the shoot from Italy to California, under the supervision of Irving Thalberg. William Wyler, one of sixty assistant directors for the chariot race, went on to direct the remake Ben-Hur.
Producer Irving Thalberg was short of "hedonist slave girls", so he called up Hal Roach and Mack Sennett to ask a favor: to loan out their famous "Bathing Beauties". They were happy to oblige, as many girls were making their film debuts. Among the group of 20 or so girls who eventually appeared in the film: Janet Gaynor, Carole Lombard, Fay Wray and Joyzelle Joyner.
Second-unit director B. Reeves Eason had 62 assistants when working on the chariot race.
The budget skyrocketed due to all sorts of accidents, recastings and a change of director halfway through production.
The cast was claimed to number over 125,000.
The famous chariot scene was filmed at what is now the intersection of LaCienega and Venice Boulevards in Los Angeles.
The first attempt to film the chariot race was on a set in Rome, but there were problems with shadows and the racetrack surface. Then one of the chariots' wheels came apart and the stuntman driving it was thrown in the air and killed. See also Ben-Hur.
The religious scenes, plus Ben Hur's entrance into Rome and some interior scenes that occur thereafter, were shot in two-strip Technicolor.
The sea battle was filmed near Livorno, Italy. Many extras apparently lied about being able to swim, and due to political troubles engulfing Italy at the time, tension between Fascist supporters of Benito Mussolini and their opponents was evident.
The troubled Italian set was eventually torn down and a new one built in Culver City, California. The famed chariot race was shot with 42 cameras were and 50,000 feet of film consumed. Second-unit director B. Reeves Eason offered a bonus to the winning driver. The final pile-up was filmed later. No humans were seriously injured during the US production, but several horses were killed.
This film had an "extra" cast like no other. Many Hollywood stars showed up on set to watch the shooting and were pressed into service as extras, especially in the chariot race. In addition, many who would later become Hollywood's top stars, but who were at the time just struggling actors, were also in the crowd scenes as extras. Among well-known and soon-to-be-well-known names "working" in the film were John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Marion Davies, Myrna Loy, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks, Clark Gable, Harold Lloyd, Carole Lombard, Janet Gaynor, Fay Wray, Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Samuel Goldwyn and Rupert Julian.
This production used more that 600 gallons of Max Factor's Liquid Body Make-up.
When the production was foundering, studio boss Irving Thalberg replaced director Charles Brabin with Fred Niblo.