"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie onMarch 18, 1940 with George Brent reprising his film role.
Tyrone Power won the first "Harvard Lampoon" Worst Actor Award for his performance.
Bert Glennon started the movie as director of photography, but became ill and was replaced by Arthur C. Miller, who received the onscreen credit.
During filming in 1937, Myrna Loy had a narrow escape when her horse bolted while shooting a scene; she was nearly killed.
Initially budgeted at $2,500,000, an additional $100,000 was added to film a new ending. $500,000 was allotted for the sets, and $500,000 for the flood and earthquake scenes. 350 grips, carpenters and laborers worked for more than a month on those scenes.
Modern sources list Harry Revel as co-writer of the title song; however, he is not listed on the published sheet music or in the ASCAP database for the song.
The first movie to win an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The category was called Best Effects, Special Effects and included both sound and photographic winners for Edmund H. Hansen and Fred Sersen respectively.
The Ranchipur of novelist Louis Bromfield was built on 18 acres of the 20th Century-Fox back lot. The maharajah's palace, which was wrecked room by room in the earthquake, cost $75,000. The breaking of the dam was shot in two nights using 14 cameras.
The studio had difficulty finding enough light-gray, black-faced monkeys for the shoot, so the makeup artists actually made up more common-looking monkeys to "fit the part".
This movie was a monumental undertaking for the studio. Of the 100 shooting days, almost half were spent filming the man-made rain and floods, for which 33 million gallons of water were used.
To create the flood effects, a 50,000-gallon tank of water was built on a studio soundstage.