Film debut of Jonathan Winters.
In the opening title animation, when the figure blows up the world and the actors' names scatter on the screen, there is a very brief moment - only three frames, in fact - when the letters form the names of the animators, including Bill Melendez, Bernie Gruver Bernard Gruver , and other animators.
In the scene where Jonathan Winters backed the truck into the water tower, it actually fell too soon, before the truck actually hit it. To compensate, special effects split the screen and slowed down the side with the water tower so that the fall would coincide with the hit.
In the scene where Pike is attacking Meyer at Irwin and Ray's Garage, Jonathan Winters actually injured Phil Silvers at least twice, visibly seen due to Phil Silver's reactions to getting hit. Once when Pike rams the back of Meyer's head into a gas pump a little too hard, and again at least once during when he is hitting Meyer with a pair of spare tires.
In-And-Out Burger restaurants feature a pair palm trees forming a "Big X" as an homage to this movie, the favorite movie of founder Harry Snyder.
It became well known that Stanley Kramer was casting nearly every comedy performer he could think of. Some famous stars actually contacted Kramer to volunteer for the project, or to inquire as to why they had not been contacted.
Many of the locations for "Santa Rosita" were filmed in Long Beach, CA. The "Santa Rosita" Police Department was in real life the main branch of the YMCA at 6th and Long Beach Blvd. The hardware store the Crumps were locked in was at 5th and Locust.
Melville Crump was originally to be played by Ernie Kovacs, but he died in a one-car accident before principal shooting. In real life he was married to Edie Adams, who played Monica Crump.
Most of the "chase" scenes - the sequences with the cars - were filmed near what is now Palm Desert, CA. If you look closely, you will see a road sign for Highway 74, which runs south from the heart of the city of Palm Desert. The vast open spaces are now largely residential country clubs with golf courses.
On 17 November 1963, the day before the movie opened for the public in New York, there was a much-publicized gala charity premiere benefit at the Cinerama Theater for the Kennedy Child Study Center in New York and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Institute of Washington. In addition to the stars in attendance, most of President Kennedy's family was there, including his mother, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and brothers Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas five days later.
Only one of the four palm trees that made up the "Big W" survived into the 21st century. However, some time between 2000 and 2010, the remaining tree (the very far-right of the Big W) was lost during a storm, leaving a stump. None of the trees have been replaced as of July 2010.
Premiered at and was the first film ever shown at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California, 7 November 1963.
The "big W" is visible almost the moment the cast arrives at the park. In a wide shot showing the first ones to arrive (Edie Adams, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney) you can see three of the four palms to the extreme left of the screen, albeit obscured by bushes.
The actors were given two huge scripts, one with all the dialogue, the other with the action.
The billboard that the twin-engine Beechcraft flies through was made of thin balsa wood, except for a thicker frame for support. Stunt pilot Frank Tallman had to fly the aircraft directly through the center of the billboard or the thicker frame would shear off a wing. The billboard was located at the end of the runway of the Chino Airport(40 miles from L.A. and just southeast of Pomona, CA) which made it ideal and isolated enough for filming. It was placed at runway's end due to the fact that the plane's prop would come to a halt after crashing through the wood, making it necessary for the pilot to land immediately. He did just that, flying through the billboard and landing on the runway directly behind it.
The cameo by Leo Gorcey marked his first appearance on film since he left the Bowery Boys series in 1956.
The car that Jack Benny drives in his cameo is a Maxwell, the same defunct brand of automobile as his famous jalopy on his radio show.
The famously stone-faced Buster Keaton was originally set to play "Smiler Grogan." When the part was re-assigned to Jimmy Durante, Keaton was given another role as "Jimmy", a former smuggler who Captain Culpepper forces to help him in his plan to run away with the money.
The fictional Santa Rosita State Park was located at Portuguese Bend in Rancho Palos Verdes. It was landscaped for the movie, and is off limits to the general public today.
The first Cinerama film using anamorphic lenses. The labeling was misleading; the film was not really made in Cinerama, but in Ultra Panavision 70, then blown up to the size of Cinerama.