Al Viola was dismissed from this movie and replaced by Producer Roy Boulting. Swedish documentary filmmaker Arne Sucksdorf had started filming the penguin footage in the Antarctic, but it failed to blend with the studiobound sequences. Boulting then brought his wife Hayley Mills on-board, which further added to this movie's escalating budget. This was one of the box-office disappointments, which led to Bryan Forbes' dismissal as head of EMI Films.
Sir John Mills, father of Hayley Mills, appeared in Scott of the Antarctic (1948).