The film did not do well financially, something John Ashley chiefly attributed to the PG rating. "Had we done it a little harder it probably would have done better," said Ashley later. "At least we'd have had a picture that was a little more exploitable." He also thought that the extensive underwater footage slowed down the action, saying, "It's gorgeous. But watching it is like watching slow motion."
The budget, variously estimated at $200,000 or $250,000, was higher than usual for movies shot in the Philippines at the time due to the use of underwater photography. Producer John Ashley admitted that the movie was meant to be a rip-off of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), but he had high hopes for it because he liked the script so much.
It was described by producer/director David DeCoteau as "one of the very few family-oriented B movies to come out of the Philippines." This was due to star Patrick Wayne's insistence that the film be a family movie. Producer John Ashley said that the original intention was for the lead characters to discover the people living underwater, and "for the most part they were going to be topless". However, Lawrence Woolner, the head of Dimension Pictures, thought that they had the chance to make a slightly more ambitious film. They wanted to cast Wayne, and one of his requirements was that the film be made PG.
Riffed in Season 13, Episode 3 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The music accompanying the fight scene in the water at 1h 21mins, is the same music played in the opening sequence to the British news at ten .