Only the 95-minute reissue print now exists from the 112-minute original, with John Carradine's role deleted.
Simone Simon was to make her American screen debut in this movie in the role of Cigarette, but director Frank Lloyd demanded she be fired after two weeks of shooting because of her temperamental attitude. When she was replaced by Claudette Colbert (after Clara Bow and Loretta Young were both considered) all Simon's footage was discarded.
Professional knife thrower Steve Clemente was supposed to hit the post next to Ronald Colman with his knife, but the crowding caused it to be deflected and Colman was hit in the chest by the handle.
Ronald Colman had starred in another movie about the Foreign Legion, Beau Geste (1926) before this film. Ouida's famous novel Under Two Flags was written in 1867. P. C. Wren's novel, Beau Geste, the first of four Geste novels, was written in 1924. Many of the plot elements in Wren's novel were first found in Ouida's. This film was also made three years before Gary Cooper's Beau Geste and was the fifth and last film version of Under Two Flags.
Initially this property was to be directed by Tod Browning for Universal in 1931. The production was abandoned and the studio sold the rights to the project to Fox.
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