Remade as Sahara (1943) starring Humphrey Bogart
The only female role in this picture was played by Elena Alexandrovna Kuzmina, who, after finishing work on the film, became the wife of director Mikhail Romm.
The film is cited for a "first" in Soviet cinema: the film's sound engineer Vyacheslav Leshchov was here the first to switch from artificial reproduction of gunshots in a noise cabinet to recording at a training ground organized at the studio.
The 13th member of the travelling party referred to in the film's title ("Thirteen"), Red Army soldier Nikolai Gusiev (portrayed by Nikolay Kryuchkov), is oddly enough missing from the film's main titles.
The production was planned as a Soviet equivalent for The Lost Patrol, but the print of that John Ford film had left Russia before Room had a chance to actually look at it.