Rock Hudson turned down The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Sayonara (1957) and Ben-Hur (1959) in order to make this film. He later said this was the biggest mistake of his career.
Ernest Hemingway was not shy about expressing his dismay over producer David O. Selznick casting his 38-year old wife Jennifer Jones in the role of the 21-year-old nurse Catharine in the remake of his second novel, "A Farewell to Arms". Selznick had earlier tried to generate publicity for the film by making a token payment to Hemingway for the novel, even though he was not required to do so as Hemingway had sold away the rights to his book a generation before. The gesture did not earn Hemingway's goodwill.
The film's original director, John Huston, was fired after clashing with producer David O. Selznick. Cinematographer Oswald Morris quit after Selznick claimed Rock Hudson was being favored over his wife, Jennifer Jones.
A scandalous number of people quit the film or were fired by Selznick: John Huston, the unit production manager, one cinematographer, three art directors, one visual effects supervisor and all of the staff working in the villa hired by David O. Selznick and Jennifer Jones in Rome.