Clark Gable became addicted to Italian food while making the film, and his weight ballooned to 230 lbs. He is clearly a lot heavier in some scenes than in others.
Although Clark Gable and Sophia Loren did not get along during filming, he did help smuggle Carlo Ponti onto the island to celebrate her 25th birthday.
At one point Sophia Loren accused director Melville Shavelson of filming her from her less attractive side in order to favor co-star Clark Gable. She added, "He doesn't have to worry about his career any more, but I have to worry about mine." Gable immediately exploded, "What the hell is she talking about? Both sides of my face are lousy and my backside isn't much better." Relations between the two stars did not improve after that.
A much younger and slimmer double stood in for Clark Gable in the brief nude scene, which was only seen in silhouette.
This was the last movie Clark Gable made that was released during his lifetime. The 33-year age difference between him and Sophia Loren was blamed for the film's poor performance. There was in fact some surprise that he had accepted the part, since at a press conference while filming But Not for Me (1959) he had announced that he was no longer going to play romantic leads.