"Rawhide" was Susan Hayward's first film for Fox after Walter Wanger sold her contract to the studio.
Everett Sloane was originally cast as Tevis, but after a action scene in which Hayward was unhappy with his roughness when he threw her to the floor, he was replaced by Jack Elam.
During its run on television during the early 1960s, it was retitled "Desperate Siege" in order to distinguish it from the Eric Fleming/Clint Eastwood TV series.
In 1954, 20th Century Fox distributed this film on a double bill with Inferno starring Robert Ryan and Rhonda Fleming.