The film was MGM's most expensive production at the time, costing around $2 million.
The last winner of Best Picture Oscar that won no other Oscars.
The only film in Oscar history that had three nominees for Best Actor: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone. Because of this, the Academy introduced a Best Supporting Actor Oscar shortly afterward to ensure this situation would not be repeated. They all lost to Victor McLaglen for The Informer, the only nominee not in this film.
The sterns of the larger ships in the harbor at the beginning of the film are first rate ships of the line that are similar to the HMS Victory. The producers tried to make these scenes as accurate as possible and it shows.
Years later, in a conversation with playwright George S. Kaufman, Charles Laughton remarked that he had given such a good performance in this film because he came from a long line of seafarers. Referring to Laughton's performance in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Kaufman dryly commented, "I assume, then, that you also came from a long line of hunchbacks?"