Robert Mitchum and Jack Palance were former professional boxers. Also, the real-life Mexican boxer Abel Fernandez (Rivera) made his screen debut in this film.
Second Chance (1953) marked RKO's first foray into 3-D filmmaking, a prevalent cinema fad in the 1950s, and its first stereophonic release. The film did well at the box-office, despite the high cost of the 3-D, stereophonic prints and the limited number of theaters equipped for 3-D projection. The film also was released in standard 2-D. The picture is also the first Hollywood 3-D feature shot on a foreign location.
When Felipe gives Russ advice about a woman, the latter replies sarcastically, "Thank you, Beatrice Fairfax." Beatrice Fairfax was a famous advice columnist of the time. A George Gershwin song "But Not for Me" includes the line "Beatrice Fairfax, don't you dare ever tell me he will care."
Second Chance (1953) was shot entirely in Mexico, including --- Cuernavaca, Morelos and Taxco, Guerrero near Mexico City.
Bad guy Jack Palance is fresh from his critically well-regarded recent work in his terrifying performances in Shane (1953) and Sudden Fear (1952) has since become the hottest heavy in Hollywood, emitting a "hostile energy, like something left overnight in a plutonium pile," per Time magazine review.