This film exists at the present time because silent film star Buster Keaton had a copy of the original print stored in his garage, which he gave to film historian Raymond Rohauer for preservation.
In the scene where the queen passes judgment on the People of the Caves, the costume that she wears later inspired the design of the Wicked Queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Even the voice of Helen Gahagan (playing She) seems to have been the inspiration of the voice of the Wicked Queen in Snow White.
The sets, costumes, etc., were all prepared for a color film. At the last minute RKO pulled producer Merian C. Cooper's budget, so he was forced to shoot the film in black and white. Friend Ray Harryhausen and Legend Films later colorized the film as a tribute to Cooper.
The massive gate that they pass through to enter the city of Kor is the same gate used in many other films, including The King of Kings (1927), King Kong (1933), The Garden of Allah (1936), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
For many years this film version was considered lost.