This was the first mainstream American movie to feature footage of Nazi concentration camps following World War II.
Knowing Orson Welles' reputation for long exposition scenes, International Pictures gave editor Ernest J. Nims the freedom to cut any sequences from the film he felt were unnecessary. To Welles' disgust, Nims ended up cutting almost 30 minutes of Welles' final version, including 19 minutes from the film's opening. The footage is believed lost, as even the original negatives have gone missing.
Though not as well remembered as some of Orson Welles' more original projects, this was the only film directed by Welles to show a profit in its original release.
A "Carthaginian peace," as mentioned by the characters, is used to refer to any peace treaty demanding total subjugation of the defeated side. It is based on the defeat of Carthage by Rome and the total destruction of Carthage thereafter. In modern times, it is often used to describe a peace settlement in which the terms imposed by the victor are overly harsh and designed to keep the loser subjugated for a long time, if not forever.
In an early scene, the war criminal Konrad Meinike is in a South American port, being followed by a female agent, played by Lillian Molieri. Her husband, an agent named Marvales, calls Edward G. Robinson to report, "My wife is following him." This is a leftover scene from the original opening of the movie, filmed by Orson Welles but later cut by editor Ernest J. Nims, featuring a husband-and-wife team of agents shadowing Meinike as he searched for Franz Kindler. The original sequence ended with the wife stumbling upon a Nazi hideout and being killed by attack dogs.