In the big production number "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," from Judy Garland's entrance until the conductor's "All aboard!" was done in one take. Legend has it that they shot it twice and Garland was dead-on move for move both times.
Although Angela Lansbury is a fine singer in her own right, her voice was considered unsuitable for the character she played, a low-down saloon singer, and as a result, all of her singing in this movie was dubbed by Virginia Rees. Cyd Charisse, who had her first speaking role in this movie, also had her singing dubbed, by Marion Doenges.
Byron Harvey Jr., who played the uncredited role of a train conductor who keeps good time, was the grandson of Fred Harvey and President of the Fred Harvey Company at the time of filming.
Virginia O'Brien was pregnant with daughter Terri during the filming, but delays caused by Judy Garland made her condition harder and harder to conceal, which is why her character seems to disappear in the second half of this movie.
Judy Garland joked "This is a fine picture for me. I hate guns, and I'm scared to death of horses. When I even come near a bunch of horses, they nudge each other and say, 'This is going to be fun.'"
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