After the film was released, kidnappings were on the rise in Japan. Akira Kurosawa himself had received threats for the kidnapping of his own daughter, Kazuko Kurosawa. She quoted him as once saying to her "With High and Low, I wanted to inspire tougher sentences on kidnappers. Instead, I was criticized for their increase."
Most of the train sequence was shot live, on the Kodama Super Express. Most of the extras are passengers.
The Japanese title for the film is "Heaven and Hell."
For the scenes in Gondo (Toshirô Mifune)'s house, an outside miniature set of Yokohama was built, complete with bridges and a moving train, and with lights for all the night time shots. For most day shots, they filmed in a studio living room set with the actual city of Yokohama outside.
For shooting on the train, extras as passengers were recruited from the richest community in Tokyo so that they looked like wealthy passengers.