For the film's final scenes in St. Paul's Cathedral, permission was requested, and turned down, to film on location. A replica of it was built instead.
The U.S. censors cut 16 seconds from the film's murder sequences.
The film made good use of the large Baker Street set at Pinewood Studios that was left over from another film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, which had been released the previous year.
The film's director, Peter Sasdy, directed two other horror films for Hammer. They were Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) and Countess Dracula (1971), the latter of which was released in the same year as Hands of the Ripper.
The film was released as the second half of a double feature with another Hammer horror film, Twins of Evil (1971).