Republic Pictures allocated a budget of $159,876 to make this film. The actual cost (negative cost) was $163,530, or nearly $4,000 over the budget.
At the end of Episode 9 a dirigible, while landing, catches fire and burns within seconds. Some of the views may be original filming with special effects, but at least a few seconds were lifted from the British Pathe newsreel of the Hindenburg disaster of May 1937. First, the dirigible is seen lowering its landing line--this was in the newsreel--and then as Dick Tracy is rescuing a colleague from the flaming wreckage, again there is a clip from the Hindenburg newsreel, in which the nose of the flaming dirigible settles to the ground.
Chapter Titles: 1. The Master Spy 2. Captured 3. The False Signal 4. The Enemy Strikes 5. Crack-Up! 6. Sunken Peril 7. Tracking the Enemy 8. Chamber of Doom 9. Flames of Jeopardy 10. Crackling Fury 11. Caverns of Peril 12. Fight in the Sky 13. The Fatal Ride 14. Getaway 15. The Last Stand
This is one Phyllis Isley's two early appearances, before her name was changed by David O. Selznick to Jennifer Jones and she became a major star.
Chapter: 13, is a budget-saving recap episode where sequences from previous chapters are shown for most of the running time.