Actress Elizabeth of Toro who played the Shaman was a Ugandan princess in real life. She was also a Cambridge law graduate, a model (the first black woman to appear on Vogue magazine) and was appointed by Idi Amin to be Uganda's Foreign Minister ..
The movie was made and released about forty-seven years after its source comic strip "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger and had been first published in 1937. Both comic book creators went uncredited in the picture's billing.
Tanya Roberts, as main character Sheena, seems to ride a zebra in this movie. It is actually a small horse wearing "make-up" so it resembles a zebra.
Star Tanya Roberts said of this movie for the film's publicity: "It was the hardest film I've ever worked on but at the same time the most gratifying. It was so amazingly beautiful in Africa, the wildlife, the sunrises and sunsets, the skies, the land, and the people".
Director John Guillermin said of this movie's location filming: "This country (Kenya) is harsh but magnificent. The people are proud but helpful. The Kenyan government went out of its way to help us, and, of course, the wildlife is the greatest remaining living heritage still left on this earth".