For the secondary roles, producer and director Richard Burton, a graduate of Oxford University, cast drama students from the Oxford University Dramatic Society.
Movie critic Judith Crist once famously said of this movie: "It turns out to be the story of a man who sold his soul for Elizabeth Taylor."
This movie and Hammersmith Is Out (1972) are considered to be based on the Faust legend. Richard Burton co-directed this movie, in which he co-starred with Dame Elizabeth Taylor. As such, this was the first of two movies based on the Faust legend that the pair made together.
Writer and director Nevill Coghill was Merton Professor of English at Oxford University at the time that this movie was developed, made, and released.