Anecdotes

The cable supporting Rodan over Sasebo Bridge snapped, causing suit actor Haruo Nakajima to fall 25 feet into the water. The incident is left in the movie as the scene where Rodan dives into the water near the bridge and submerges. The cables were re-attached for the scene where Rodan lifts off out of the water, but they almost broke again because the suit became waterlogged and doubled in weight.

In his autobiography, George Takei says that this was his first professional acting job, and all dialogue voices were provided by himself, Keye Luke, "another man" (Paul Frees) and one woman.

The film was Toho's first horror film, and first monster film, to be shot in color. It was one of a few handful of Japanese films released that year in color, and the film's large budget meant it could afford the expensive cost of filming in color. Despite this distinction, Toho has not given the film a proper restoration with color collection for their video releases. This includes the HD transfer provided for Janus on Criterion's streaming service.

The King Brothers attempted to add footage of American Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ships firing their main guns and anti-aircraft batteries at the Rodans (the Kings had switched the city from Fukuoka, which had no naval facilities, to Sasebo, which had them). The brothers wanted footage of joint American-Japanese naval gunfire exercises, but the Pentagon refused, to avoid the Soviets seeing training techniques. A year later, in 1957 with Prisonnières des Martiens (1957), the Pentagon would freely offer stock footage for public relations purposes.

Rodan is seen atop a building, the Iwataya Department Store. While constructing the miniature, it had to be reinforced with steel beams so it would not immediately collapse under the weight.