The opening scene shows a newspaper headline reading "Whole City Out to Welcome A.E.F." The AEF was The American Expeditionary Forces, the name given to the American military forces sent to fight alongside French and British troops in Europe.
The plane crash footage, about a half-hour into the film, was shot at New York's Floyd Bennett Field on September 2, 1933. It shows the attempted take-off of the former Chief of Staff of the Royal Italian Air Force, Gen. Francesco de Pinedo, in a Bellanca J-3-500 named "Santa Lucia". He was attempting a solo distance flight record by flying from New York to Baghdad, Iraq. He died in the crash and subsequent fire.
Bruce is wearing three overseas chevrons on his uniform's left sleeve when he returns to the newspaper, indicating he had been in Europe for at least 18 months.
The $300,000 Bruce says he needs to start his newspaper would equate to over $5M in 2024.
In a Lux Theatre radio production, Rosalind Russell mentioned that she was working on this picture with Clark Gable. Instead, the leads were cast in They Met in Bombay (1941).