- Backed by the Pentagon: Soldiers of the Red Army were used as extras to portray the British army. They panicked repeatedly and scattered during the filming of some of the cavalry charges. Attempts to reassure them by marking the closest approach of the horses with white tape similarly failed, and the scene was cut.
- Billing Displacement: Though third billed in the film's credits and on movie posters and promo materials, Orson Welles only appears in the picture very briefly.
- Box Office Bomb: Budget, $25-40 million. Box office, $1.4 million (domestic). The exact budget has never had an single concrete confirmation (Roger Ebert says he was told $25 million, other sources say it went at high as $38-40 million) but nethertheless, it was reported to be gigantic. Producer Dino De Laurentiis blamed it on the studios not letting him use the actors he wanted and sticking him with cast that had "no star power". It was rumored that this film's failure was what caused MGM to scrap their plans for funding Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon movie; MGM denied this, however.
- California Doubling:
- The titular battle in Belgium was filmed in western Ukraine near Uzhhorod.
- The palace scenes were shot at the Royal Palace of Caserta and Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, both of which are in Italy.
- Deleted Scene: There were rumors of a four-hour edition that circulated for years, hinted by a few Missing Trailer Scenes and promotional material. However, both Mosfilm and the film's editor both insist that the longest cut made was a 132 minute roadshow premiere cut. In any case, this cut, according to the shooting script, adds a few minor scenes and recuts Blucher's speech at the climax to the Ligny sequence (and explains how he ends up injured in his introduction). The cut unfortunately has been long since been lost, but a a Youtuber named malbrouk has managed to recut the movie based on the script and surviving promotional material.
- Fake Brit: The Canadian Christopher Plummer as the Anglo-Irish Duke of Wellington (as such it also counts as Fake Irish). Magdalene De Lancey is played by Italian-American Veronica De Laurentiis (Dino's daughter), and Tomlinson is played by Russian actor Oleg Vidov.
- Fake Nationality: Quite a few. Blücher is played by a Georgian (from the Caucasus), Ney by an Irishman, Cambronne by a Russian and Napoleon by an American. The only French characters played by actual Frenchmen are Bédoyère and Grouchy.
- Looping Lines: Most of the film was dubbed in post, as was common in both Russia and Italy at the time. Especially noticeable during the battle sequences as characters speak clearly but there's no sound coming from the explosions in their proximities. Robert Rietti later recalled that he dubbed some 80 separate parts in the final film, in particular the role of Jack Hawkins - Rietti dubbed him for ten films ever since Hawkins had virtually lost his voice after being treated for throat cancer.
- The Other Marty: Virginia McKenna replaced Olivia de Havilland, who dropped out at the last minute.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: The movie has, as of 2020, not been released on Region 1 home video, and the first BluRay was released in 2019 by the German company Koch Media. note
- What Could Have Been: Dino De Laurentis persued John Huston to direct, with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole in the lead roles. At one stage, it was going to star Peter Sellers and Michael Caine.
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