In an interview with Tom Weaver, Jean Porter said the film was "directed by Dick Powell, and he wasn't given director credit. Dick gave Robert Parrish the director's credit, but Dick did all the directing."
This is one of Rhonda Fleming's personal favorite films despite it being associated with some bad memories for her. First, filming was delayed a week when she, on loan from David O. Selznick, had to undergo an emergency appendectomy. Later, after the film opened in San Francisco, her father, who lived there, died suddenly. She skipped the screening and for a long time afterward couldn't bear to watch the film because of the memories it stirred up. When she finally did see it, she loved it.
While they are awaiting the arrival of the police, Dick Powell asks Richard Erdman if he has read "What to Do till the Police Come." This is a joking reference to the book What to Do till the Doctor Comes, which had been a popular book for more than 20 years at the time of the movie. It is still in print.
Rhonda Fleming generously donated to the film's restoration and preservation by the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA's Film and Television Archive.
When Rocky (Dick Powell) first encounters Williams (Jay Adler), Williams is singing and strumming a ukulele. Rocky interrupts him and addresses him as "Godfrey," a reference to Arthur Godfrey, a popular performer and TV host who had his own show at the time, Arthur Godfrey and His Ukulele (1950).