Jack Hildyard was initially the film's cinematographer, but left at the same time as original director Rouben Mamoulian. When Joseph L. Mankiewicz came on board, he initially looked at hiring an Italian cinematographer, but the studio did not believe that there were any Italians sufficiently qualified to work on the film and pressured him to hire an American or British cinematographer. Freddie Young, Milton R. Krasner and Robert Surtees were all unsuccessfully approached for the position, before Leon Shamroy finally agreed to sign on.
Nunnally Johnson was paid $140,000 for a script polish.
Stanley Baker was set to play Ruffio but demurred over taking the part as there was no script available. By the time, he decided to take it, the part had since gone to Martin Landau.
Susan Hayward was the first choice to play Cleopatra.
Alex North was chosen to score the film after Joseph L. Mankiewicz's son Chris told him that North had done a magnificent job in composing a score for Spartacus.
John DeCuir rebuilt the massive set of Alexandria three times.
20th Century Fox's virtual bankruptcy meant that the film lacks a big final battle sequence. The studio simply couldn't afford to do one.
26,000 costumes were created for the film.
79 sets were constructed for the film.
A clerical error by 20 Century-Fox probably cost Roddy McDowall a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his performance in this film. See McDowall's biography page for details.
A group of female extras who played Cleopatra's various servants and slave girls went on strike to demand protection from amorous Italian extras and their bottom-pinching fingers. The studio eventually hired a special guard to protect the extras.
A total of 10 people won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Color) for the film (7 art directors, 3 set decorators); this is the highest number of persons sharing a single award in an annual category. (In 1988 and again in 2006, a Scientific and Technical Award, which is not necessarily given each year, was shared by 12 individuals.)
Adjusting for inflation, this is one of the most expensive movies ever made. Its budget of $44 million is equivalent to 297 million 2007 dollars.
After a day's lengthy shooting, Joseph L. Mankiewicz would retire to his private rooms to carry on rewriting the screenplay. He had initially begged for time off to do a proper rewrite but 20th Century Fox was already so deeply in debt that they couldn't allow for yet another delay in production. Operating under these stressful conditions, Mankiewicz had to resort to daily injections to keep him going during the day and different ones at night to help him sleep.
After conceding to Darryl F. Zanuck's insistence that Cleopatra be one film not two, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's first cut ran to 5 hours and 20 minutes. Zanuck's first reaction to the film was that Mark Antony was ineffectual, many of the scenes were simply too long and the battle scenes were amateurish in execution.
After firing Rouben Mamoulian as director, Walter Wanger and Darryl F. Zanuck approached Alfred Hitchcock to take over the project. Hitchcock refused and chose to make The Birds instead.
Among Elizabeth Taylor's demands were the requirement that the film be shot in the large format Todd-AO system. She owned the rights to the system as the widow of Michael Todd. This meant even more money being paid to Ms. Taylor.
At $194,800, the budget for Elizabeth Taylor's costumes in this film was the highest ever for a single screen actor. Her 65 costumes included a dress made from 24-carat gold cloth.
At the height of its excesses, Cleopatra was costing 20th Century Fox $70,000 a day.
Cleopatra's barge alone cost about $2 million in today's dollars.