The production was shot during a California heat wave. To form vapor on the breath and give the impression that the pilots were in the Antarctic, the performers were given lumps of 'dry ice' (frozen carbon dioxide) in metal boxes to put in their mouths. Hobart Bosworth found the box cumbersome and simply put the ice in his mouth. He lost his tongue and most of his lower jaw.
This film is loosely based on the crash of the airship Italia, flown by Umberto Nobile, around May 25, 1928 near the North Pole, and the international rescue effort that cost early Polar explorer Roald Amundson his life. The Pilot who rescued Nobile also crashed when returning to rescue more survivors and had to be rescued himself.
Originally planned by Paramount as a sensational follow-up to Wings (1927), but they couldn't get the production off the ground. The story was sold to Columbia Pictures, and its final "lighter than air" plot reached theaters in 1931.
The Motion Picture Herald reported that the rough cut before final editing consisted of 28 reels. 125,000 feet of film were shot at the Naval Air Base at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The estimated cost of production of $1,000,000 made it the most expensive Columbia film to that date.
This was the first Columbia film to open at the Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood, California, a sign that Columbia Pictures was becoming a major studio, mostly due to Frank Capra.