In his opening monologue on April 7, 1981, Johnny Carson described this mini-series as a "Kosher Shogun". After watching the mini-series, Carson joked that he learned all Romans spoke with an English accent.
In order to avoid the heat of the Israeli desert, the crew employed a unique shooting schedule: they divided the day into three eight-hour segments and only shot either late at night or early in the morning. They avoided shooting between late morning and late afternoon, the hottest part of the day.
Filmed on-location in Israel, in the same place where the historic events took place.
During the lengthy location filming, Peter O'Toole was the only cast member who didn't fall ill. This was due to the fact that these were similar locations to Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and he knew how punishing and gruelling the region could be.