The story is based on the experience of Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish soldier captured by indigenous Americans in 1528.
For his painful Vow to the Sun initiation ceremony scene, Richard Harris wore a prosthetic chest created by make-up artist John Chambers.
One of three notable westerns made from the stories of Dorothy M. Johnson. The others being The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and The Hanging Tree (1959).
Based on a 1958 segment of the television series Wagon Train (1957), bearing the same title. It is the same story as this movie, including the chief with two sisters, the escape attempt foiled by a horse, and being a slave to Yellow Robe's mother, with a few minor changes.