Madge Blake and Spring Byington were among the actresses who did some live action doubling as the fairy godmothers for the help of the animators. The voice artistes were not chosen because they weren't pudgy enough!
Eleanor Audley - one of Walt Disney's favorite voice artistes, most memorably as the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella - initially turned the part of Maleficent down, much to Disney's surprise. As it later transpired, Audley was in the midst of battling a bout of tuberculosis and didn't want to tax her voice too much. Fortunately, she changed her mind.
Walt Disney had toyed with the idea of his royal couple dancing in the clouds as a finale for both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella. The concept finally got used in Sleeping Beauty. However, the idea was used in the Bongo segment in Fun & Fancy Free.
Walt Disney suggested that all three fairies should look alike, but veteran animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston disagreed with this idea, saying that having them be alike wouldn't be exciting. Also, the idea originally included seven fairies instead of three.
Walt Disney's constant mantra to his animators was that the film could not be like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Bill Shirley and Mary Costa auditioned together to ensure that their voices complemented each other.
George Bruns initially started scoring the film in Los Angeles in 4 track stereo, until he got wind of a new studio in Berlin that used 6 track stereo, so he decamped for Germany. Bruns' efforts were rewarded with an Oscar nomination..
A flame thrower was used to create the dragon breath sound effect for the climax of the movie. Castanets were used for the sound of its snapping jaws.
Although she is the title character, Princess Aurora (as an adult) only appears in the film for 18 minutes.
Among the actresses who performed in reference footage for this film included Spring Byington and Frances Bavier.
Animator Eric Cleworth based the dragon's head movements on those of a rattlesnake about to strike.
Art direction for this movie was inspired by European medieval painting and architecture.
At the time, the most expensive Disney animation. Although it was a hit on its initial release, it still didn't gross enough to recoup its $6 million outlay.
Even though it is not mentioned in the film, Maleficent's pet (the raven) is named Diablo.
Famed Warner Bros. animation director Chuck Jones worked on the film briefly when Termite Terrace closed temporarily during the late 1950s. He found the atmosphere at Walt Disney Productions oppressive because everything anyone did there had to be approved by Walt Disney before, during, and after the process of production. He was more than happy when Warner's animation department reopened, where he stayed until it closed again in 1964.
For the first time on a Disney animated feature, one man, Eyvind Earle, was in charge of the color styling, background design, and the overall look of the film, even painting the great majority of the production backgrounds for this film. Earle's modernistic approach to design and painting resulted provided this film a bold, unique art style, even though his colleagues did not care for his production methods and art style while the film was in production.
HIDDEN MICKEY: When the fairies discuss how to help the king and queen, Merryweather makes cookies in the shape of Mickey Mouse.
In active production from 1951 until the end of 1958, setting a record (for which it is tied with another 70mm Disney film, The Black Cauldron) for being the Disney animated film with the longest production schedule.
In its original release, preceded by the featurette Grand Canyon.
In the original fable, Princess Aurora is the result of a spell cast on the Queen by a magical fish that she had thrown back into a pond after it wound up lying on the bank.