Ralph Bates was cast at very short notice: Peter Cushing was originally intended to play the lead but asked to bow out shortly before filming so that he could continue to look after his ailing wife. Bates later described this as "one of the worst films ever made."
It was preceded by The Vampire Lovers (1970) and followed by Twins of Evil (1971). The three films do not form a chronological development, but use the Karnstein family as the source of the vampiric threat and were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes.
While Mircalla is being resurrected, two closeups of the bloodshot eyes of Count Karnstein are not of Mike Raven, but are clearly actually the eyes of Christopher Lee, in a shot cut in from another movie, almost certainly Scars of Dracula (1970). It's probable that the insert was used because of the striking bloodiness of the eyes, coupled with Raven's close facial resemblance to Christopher Lee.
Ingrid Pitt turned down the lead because she thought the script was terrible. She starred in Countess Dracula instead.
Most of the now commonplace "rules" of vampires were developed after the story of Carmilla, primarily in the novel Dracula. The Karnsteins can walk about in the daylight, cross running water, have reflections in mirrors, and cannot be killed by fire.
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