In keeping with Army regulations, Veronica Lake (Lt. Olivia D'Arcy) changed her famous "peek-a-boo" hairstyle. She only let her hair down once, in her final scene. Later she cut it with much publicity, because women who copied her and worked in factories kept getting their hair caught in the machinery.
During shooting, a rift occurred between Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard after Colbert overheard Goddard say that she and Veronica Lake were closer friends because they were the same age. Colbert was miffed because Goddard (32 at the time) was closer to Colbert's age (39) than Lake's (20).
The scene where the nurses witness money being burned was an actual event. $20,000,000 in currency was incinerated to keep it from falling into Japanese hands. Millions more in coins and silver that could not be destroyed was buried, but as of 2020 none of that money has been found.
The film covers the World War II Battle of Bataan. This is a Central Luzon region province on Luzon island in the Philippines and occupies the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on the island.
Before departing from the US, Joan asks Janet to stall one of her beaus on the dock. To do so, Janet recites the first four lines of the poem "Snowflakes" by Mary Mapes Dodge: "Whenever a snowflake leaves the sky, / It turns and turns to say 'Good-by! / Good-by, dear clouds, so cool and gray!' Then lightly travels on its way." At first she garbles the last line, but then gets it right.