This was originally set up as a starring vehicle for Jack Lemmon and Dean Martin, and when Lemmon departed, for Martin and Robert Wagner. When Glenn Ford was signed, Bobby Darin was expected to join him, but he too became unavailable.
The newsreel sequence or "movie within the movie" was filmed aboard the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles (CA-135) featuring the ship's then commanding officer CAPT Robert Dornin and various members of the deck department as sideboys.
James Shigeta and Miyoshi Umeki both starred in "Flower Drum Song" (1961).
Miiko Taka, opposite Marlon Brando, and Miyoshi Umeki, opposite Red Buttons, both starred in "Sayonara" (1957), in which Umeki won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
The taxi that Murray, Suzuki and Lank take at the beginning is a French Renault Dauphine.