The earliest script of the movie called for Captain January to die at the end, just before Star is taken away from him by her relatives: "On their final evening together, he allows her to light the lamp in the lighthouse [something she has always wanted to do]. She is unaware that the Captain has suffered a massive heart attack and is unable to carry out his duties. January sees the lamp lit and dies." Shirley Temple's producer, Darryl F. Zanuck, made extensive changes to this script.
A scene in which Shirley Temple dances the hula was deleted after shocked test audiences said that the hula was immoral.
The lobsters that appear in the background during the "At the Codfish Ball" sequence were real. To prevent them from crawling out of their baskets, the props crew cooked them, which turned them from their natural dark color to bright red. The crew painted them back to the original color, and as soon as the scene was completed, they cracked the lobsters open and ate them on the spot.
John Carradine as "East Indian" is in studio records/casting call lists for this movie, but he did not appear or was not identifiable. Both Gareth Joplin and Mary Carr were listed as cast members in a contemporary Hollywood Reporter production chart, but they were not in the movie either.
When Star's lack of schooling is being questioned, Captain January says that he has taught her using "the Bible and Bowditch". "Bowditch" refers to "The American Practical Navigator" by Nathaniel Bowditch, first published in 1802. Over the years, the text has evolved with advances in navigation practices, and continues to be a valuable reference for marine navigation in modern times.