According to an article in the original "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazines, production was actually started in 1926. There were various problems, including weather and the advent of talkies, which slowed/halted production several times before the film was finally completed and released three years later. The article included stills showing the original 1926 undersea denizens and the redesigned version which actually appeared in the film.
No color prints survive. Only one reel exists tinted and with Technicolor sequences; it is held at the UCLA Film Archive.