Fidel Castro's government gave permission for this movie, which presents the fallen regime of Fulgencio Batista in an unflattering light, and also condemns American and British meddling, to shoot on-location in Havana, only a few months after the revolution. It was completed during the brief period in 1959 before Cuba had aligned itself with the Soviet Union.
The Cuban scenes were filmed over a period of five weeks, and were frequently interrupted by local Cuban residents getting very excited by all the filming.
Alfred Hitchcock was interested in making a movie based on Graham Greene's novel, and competed for the rights. The writer wasn't keen on Hitchcock, however, after his days as a film critic, so he chose to work instead with Carol Reed.
Graham Greene based his novel "Our Man in Havana" on his World War II British Intelligence experiences.
All of the on-location street footage shot in Cuba was dubbed in post-production due to the high levels of noise from the crowds watching the filming.