Cleopatra's spectacular entrance into Rome was nearly scuppered when all the enthusiastic extras started shouting "Liz! Liz!" instead of "Cleopatra! Cleopatra!".
Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz referred to this as "the toughest three pictures I ever made".
Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was fired during the editing/post-production phase. Since there was no actual shooting script (Mankiewicz was writing as he was shooting), Twentieth Century-Fox soon realized that only Mankiewicz knew how the story fit together. He was brought back to complete the project.
During Cleopatra's entry into Rome, the shots of Cleopatra's barge and the parade that precedes it were filmed several months apart, so that the light would be hitting Cleopatra directly.
During production 'Spyrous Skouras' sold a thousand of his estimated 100,000 shares in the studio on a whim. When rumors of his lack of faith in the studio began to spread, the chairman had to buy them back in order to squelch the stories.
During the making of the movie, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton started their love-hate relationship which lasted until his death.
Filming began in 1960.
First cinema film of John Alderton.
For many of the reshoots, original cinematographer Leon Shamroy was unavailable so Claude Renoir filled in for him.
Fox's marketing campaign was suitably successful that on the day that Cleopatra finally opened, the film was sold out for the next four months.
In 1958 Joan Collins was cast in the title role, but after several delays she became unavailable. Collins had previously starred in a similar role in Land of the Pharaohs. After Collins' departure, Audrey Hepburn was considered as a replacement by producer Walter Wanger. Wanger then offered the role to Elizabeth Taylor. He called her on the set of her latest film, Suddenly, Last Summer and related the offer through Taylor's then husband Eddie Fisher who had answered the phone. As a joke, Taylor replied "Sure, tell him I'll do it for a million dollars." This then unheard-of sum was accepted and in October 1959 Taylor became the first Hollywood star to receive $1 million for a single picture.
In 1966, ABC-TV paid 20th Century-Fox a record $5 million for two showings of the film, a deal that finally put the picture into the black.
In order to break even, Cleopatra had to become one of the top grossing films of all time. Its initial box office take in North America was $48 million, the highest grossing film of its year. 20th Century Fox's share of the receipts amounted to only $26 million, however, only half of the total production costs. The film eventually recouped its budget through worldwide box office takings and television sales, but the studio had to undertake drastic cost-cutting measures to survive. It was only due to the success of The Longest Day and the following year's The Sound of Music that the studio managed to stay afloat.
In order to keep star Elizabeth Taylor happy, 'Spyrous Skouras' had chili from Chasen's air-freighted to Europe for her.
Initially Egypt refused entry to Elizabeth Taylor because she was Jewish. They revised their opinion after reflecting on the millions of US dollars that the film's presence would engender.
Mitchell, not Panavision, cameras were used on "Cleopatra".
Numerous boats and ships were employed for the scene showing Cleopatra's navy. It was said at the time that 20th Century Fox had the world's third biggest navy.
One of Cleopatra's handmaidens is a 16 year old Francesca Annis.
One of the beleaguered director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's most passionate allies was Rex Harrison who, at one point, offered up his own salary to see if it would help the production. Mankiewicz refused to let him do that.
One of the problems frequently encountered was that Italian films at the time were all post-dubbed. Consequently while Joseph L. Mankiewicz was attempting to film his scenes, there was invariably constant hammering going on by the carpenters on the set. The production lost hours and hours, trying to make it clear to the Italian crew that silence was essential on set at all times.