The Olympic Organizing Board was looking for a commercial representation of the Olympics, including glorifying winners and the Japanese contestants, and was disappointed with the film, which humanized the games instead. The uncut version was subsequently never publicly screened.
According to the The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, and the IDFA documentary festival site, the film had a crew of 566 people, including 164 cameramen. A total of 1031 cameras were used with 232 different kinds of lenses. Telephoto lenses were used extensively, even two 1,600 mm ultra-telephoto lenses, and a single, unique 2,000 mm one.
Yoshinori Sakai, who can be seen lighting the Olympic flame, was born in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped.
The Olympic great, Jesse Owens, can be seen in the stands wearing a white USA ball cap during the 100 meter final.
There was a gender controversy-- or at least speculation-- concerning the Press sisters (Tamara and Irina) of the USSR featured in the first half of the film. Tamara competed in the shot put & discus and Irina in the shot put, 80 meter hurdles, & pentathlon at the 1964 Games. When gender testing became mandatory in international competitions in 1966, the Press siblings retired.