At the film's premiere, after three hours had elapsed, with twenty-eight minutes remaining, comedian Mort Sahl stood and shouted, "Otto Preminger, let my people go!" The incident became a legendary episode of Hollywood lore.
Although many critics felt that Paul Newman was miscast as Ari Ben Canaan, producer and director Otto Preminger maintained that he had envisioned only Newman playing the part from the time he read the novel.
Producer and director Otto Preminger helped to end the stigma of the Hollywood blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo to adapt the screenplay for this movie, before Trumbo was hired for Spartacus (1960).
The production company hired 250 extras to play escaping prisoners at the old prison in Acre. However, 253 people were counted as escaping; the extra three were actual escapees from a mental ward near the set.
Sal Mineo actively sought the role of Dov Landau despite being told that he did not "look Jewish", or anything like the character.
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