James Mason played the same role of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel two years earlier in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, also by 20th Century-Fox studio also being set in World War II North Africa.
In light of postwar revelations that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had been complicit in the attempt to kill Adolf Hitler, there emerged a reassessment of him as a dashing and gallant officer, and this is how James Mason played him in "The Desert Fox"--in contrast to the portrayal of Rommel by Erich von Stroheim in Paramount's Five Graves to Cairo, which was Billy Wilder's first film as a director. After "The Desert Fox" came out, criticism came from veterans who had strong opinions about Rommel based on their experience of his actions during the war. In making "The Desert Rats" two years later, in reaction to this criticism, Fox brought back Mason in a cameo, and he plays Rommel more villainously than he has in "The Desert Fox", though not as much as von Stroheim.
Legendary Australian actor Chips Rafferty appears in this movie as Sergeant 'Blue' Smith. About a decade earlier, Rafferty appeared playing Milo Trent in another movie featuring "The Desert Rats" entitled The Fighting Rats of Tobruk.
The picture of Tammy MacRoberts' wife is actually a photo of actress Sybil Williams, Richard Burton's then wife.
This film's title actually refers to the British 7th Armoured Division who were "The Desert Rats" in North Africa and not the Australian 9th Division who were part of the siege at Tobruk and were known as "The Rats of Tobruk", not the Desert Rats.