Charlton Heston tells in his autobiography that director John Guillermin was a very effective filmmaker but also liked to humiliate actors for fun. On one occasion, after Guillermin ruthlessly reamed the actor playing Heston's co-pilot in front of the crew, Heston responded by quietly telling Guillermin that if he ever mistreated another actor like that again, he would quit the film. Guillermin respected Heston's wishes and stopped humiliating the actors.
Charlton Heston reportedly took the lead role so that MGM would allow him to use footage from Ben-Hur (1959) for his directorial debut, À Sombra das Pirâmides (1972).
Between 1961 and 1973, almost one hundred sixty airplane hijackings occurred in the U.S. The novel upon which this film is based was published in 1970.