Working with practically no budget and largely without on-location filming permits, Stanley Kubrick had to remain unnoticed while shooting in the nation's busiest city, using hand-held cameras and sometimes secretly shooting from a nearby vehicle.
Although he rated this film higher than his first, Fear and Desire (1952), Stanley Kubrick nevertheless thought that it was at a "student level of filmmaking."
Many scenes were photographed with a springwound Eyemo camera, which holds 100-foot loads of film. The Eyemo was borrowed from Max Glenn and was subsequently stolen from Stanley Kubrick's car. For many tracking shots, Kubrick and company used the back of a pickup truck in place of a dolly. Kubrick was on welfare during the making of this film.
Stanley Kubrick was unable to record the film's dialogue on-set due to technical problems. Veteran soundman Nathan Boxer had been hired to record sound, but his boom mike and pole created many shadows. The inexperienced Kubrick was forced to fire him and his sound crew, then post-sync all of the film's dialogue and sound effects. Irene Kane was unavailable to add her dialogue later, so radio actress Peggy Lobbin voiced her role.
The last film directed by Stanley Kubrick that was written as an original screenplay (i.e., wasn't based on a previously published novel or short story).
Stanley Kubrick: [breaking the 180-degree stageline] Kubrick often breaks the 180-degree stageline in this film. That is, characters are photographed from both sides of the stageline, making them appear to be (for instance) looking in the same direction, when they are supposed to be looking in opposite directions. Watch the Davey Gordon and Rapallo ax fight at the denouement for an example.