Director Fritz Lang had desperately wanted Peter Lorre to play Jeff Warren, but Lang had treated Lorre so abusively during the making of M (1931) that the actor refused. Marlon Brando also rejected the role of Jeff Warren, saying "I cannot believe that the man who gave us the über dark Mabuse, the pathetic child murderer in M and the futuristic look at society, Metropolis (1927), would stoop to hustling such crap."
Fritz Lang did not like the title and thought it redundant. "What other kind of desire is there?" is his reported comment.
Unable to use his chosen actor or present Émile Zola's story in his own way due to decisions out of his control, Fritz Lang rode out the assignment, bringing his usual blend of professional tyranny to bear. But as shooting dragged on for seven weeks into early 1954, tempers grew short. When Lang lashed out at leading lady Gloria Grahame, costar Broderick Crawford lifted Lang off the floor by his lapels, bringing business to a screeching halt until emotions cooled.
The original plan was to re-unite Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, whose previous teamings had made so much money for Columbia, in the lead roles. Hayworth, however, was tied up in divorce proceedings, and Gloria Grahame, who had been such an effective leading lady for Ford and Fritz Lang the previous year in The Big Heat (1953), was signed instead.
The story, "La Bete Humaine" by Émile Zola, had been filmed twice before: The Human Beast (1938), directed by Jean Renoir, and Die Bestie im Menschen (1921), starring Ilka Grüning. Then, in 1957, an Argentine production was filmed, La bestia humana (1957).