This was originally set up as a starring vehicle for Jack Lemmon and Dean Martin, and when Lemmon departed, for Martin and Robert Wagner. When Glenn Ford was signed, Bobby Darin was expected to join him, but he too became unavailable.
The newsreel sequence or "movie within the movie" was filmed aboard the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles (CA-135) featuring the ship's then commanding officer CAPT Robert Dornin and various members of the deck department as sideboys.
Hawaiian-born James Shigeta (Suzuki) was, in fact, fluent in Japanese, as well as Italian and French.
Opened in the UK on May 4th 1961 at the Columbia, Shaftesbury Avenue for an intended three week run. The film performed so poorly that it was pulled after ten days and replaced with a revival of The Greengage Summer.