During the production of this film, the wife of Kong animator Willis H. O'Brien fatally shot their two sons and then tried to take her own life. She survived her attempted suicide, but this incident all but destroyed O'Brien. After this, he steadfastly refused to discuss this film. O'Brien's protege, Ray Harryhausen, had many questions about the making of this film, but they remained unanswered, as the memories were far too painful to relive. Willis O'Brien passed away in 1962.
The Little Kong puppet is actually the "long face" Kong model used for the T-Rex battle in King Kong (1933). For this film the armature (metal skeleton) was stripped of its rubber and fur and remodeled to look like a younger albino gorilla.
Merian C. Cooper's enthusiasm for this movie was curtailed when he was told he had less than half the budget of King Kong (1933) to work with, and he had to have it in theaters within six months, for Christmas 1933 release.
Because they knew little about the stop-action process employed by Willis H. O'Brien on King Kong (1933), producers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack more or less left the animator alone. However on "Son of Kong" they became involved, a situation that angered O'Brien. Rather than argue, O'Brien would seldom show up for work at the studio, and Buzz Gibson had to finish the animation without him. He asked Cooper to remove his name from the credits, but the producer refused.
Robert Armstrong (Carl Denham), Frank Reicher (Captain Englehorn), Victor Wong (Charlie), Noble Johnson (The Native Chief) and Steve Clemente (The Native Witch King) are the only actors to reprise their roles from King Kong (1933).