It was Vernon Duke who suggested Bob Wright and Chet Forrest use the music of Aleksandr Borodin as a basis for their score.
The orange seller (the man who Hajj (Howard Keel) holds down and calls the "father of none and son of many") was played by Jamie Farr, best known for his role as Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger on M*A*S*H (1972).
Because the production ran a few days behind schedule, co-director Stanley Donen had to take over for the last three or four days of the production, plus one day of additional shooting, after director Vincente Minnelli left for Europe to begin work on his next film, Lust for Life (1956).
The original Broadway production of "Kismet" opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on December 3, 1953, ran for five hundred eighty-three performances, and won the 1954 Tony Award for Best Musical.
Howard Keel began his career on Broadway as a standby and/or understudy for the lead roles in "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel." He also essayed the role of Curly in the original London production of "Oklahoma!"