- Backed by the Pentagon:
- Definitely not, for obvious reasons; though as mentioned on the main page, John F. Kennedy gave the movie his covert support.
- This caused John Frankenheimer to resort to Refuge in Audacity to get a needed shot of "Jiggs" Casey entering the Pentagon, which the Pentagon refused permission for obvious reasons note . So, he got Kirk Douglas in full uniform and walked him up the steps of the Pentagon while filming from a parked car. Quite coincidentally, a couple of soldiers were walking down the steps as Douglas was ascending them. Not realizing who they were passing by as they had zero reason to believe that Kirk Douglas would be walking in the uniform of a Marine colonel up the Pentagon stairs, they gave what they took to be a superior officer a genuine salute, which Douglas, not missing a beat, returned. Needless to say, this bit of unscripted and unplanned verisimilitude made it into the film.
- Banned in Brazil: The Brazilian government banned the film because its plot was too similar to the Military Coup the country had just gone through in Real Life. The novel had just been released prior to the coup and so squeaked through to publication.
- Cast the Runner-Up: Kirk Douglas was originally going to play General Scott until Burt Lancaster signed up. Douglas reportedly had to persuade Lancaster to play Scott, as Lancaster, a liberal Democrat as was Douglas, worried that Scott's portrayal could be seen as unfair to Republicans. Douglas convinced him that Scott was not Obviously Evil, but instead a morally-conflicted Well-Intentioned Extremist, at which point Lancaster signed on.
- Dueling-Stars Movie: Kirk Douglas vs. Burt Lancaster.
- Those Two Actors: This is the third of three movies Kirk Douglas and George Macready appeared in together, after Detective Story and Paths of Glory.
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