Robert Newton previously played the role of Ewart Gray in The Beachcomber (1938).
Robert Newton reportedly abstained from drinking for much of the filming on the advice of doctors. His relapse, and subsequently improved performance, are vividly described in Donald Sinden's autobiography "A Touch of the Memoirs" (1982).
Theatrical movie debut of Donald Pleasence (Tromp).
On his episode of "Desert Island Discs" in 1980, Donald Pleasence said the reason he was chosen for the part of Tromp was because the producers had seen him in two different plays playing two different roles and thought if he could do that, he could do this part. Pleasence asked if he was doing alright in the role and was told he was and that the Rank Organisation were going to make a number of films the following year and he would be cast in all of them. He didn't get another movie role for a year.
The location of the "Welcome Islands in the Indian Ocean" is fictitious. The real Welcome Islands are in the South Atlantic at the latitude of Tierra del Fuego, and are far from being a tropical paradise. The original story is set in the islands of the Alas group off the east coast of Dutch New Guinea, as it then was, in the Philippine Sea in the equatorial Pacific.