The movie shows Amelia Earhart finishing third in the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby in 1929, but doesn't explain why. Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first at the last stop before the final leg. Nichols took off right before Earhart, but her plane clipped a tractor on the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to Nichols's plane to drag her to safety. After Earhart was sure that Nichols was not seriously hurt, she took off for Cleveland and finished third. Women in the Wind (1939) is based on the same air race and features a plot loosely inspired by the incident.
The 1927 Packard 7 Passenger used in the movie was actually Charles Lindbergh's car, given to him by the mayor of New York, Jimmie Walker, after his direct, non-stop flight from New York to Paris. The chauffeur in the movie is the owner of the car from RM Classic Cars of Blenheim.
One of the planes used for the movie landed in an African country to refuel, and was impounded by the government. The producers had to pay a ransom through the embassy for the plane to be returned.
Gene Vidal (played by Ewan McGregor), who was widely assumed to have had a romantic relationship with Amelia Earhart as depicted in this movie, had only one child, Gore Vidal (played by William Cuddy). Gore grew up to become a successful author, screenwriter and political commentator. In his later years, Gore wrote a lengthy essay about his father's sexual affair with Amelia. As a boy, Gore had hoped his father would marry Amelia and that Amelia would become his step-mother.
In the film, Amelia signs the contract with her left hand, but in real life she was not left handed. Obviously Hilary Swank is.