Lois Weber, who was living in Hawaii at the time of filming, wrote to Cecil B. DeMille to suggest a screenwriter, also in residence on the island, in hopes of getting him some work.

According to "Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood" by Robert S. Birchard, the 96-minute version of the film was only screened once, at a test screening in Huntington Park, California, on December 15, 1933. The test audience, apparently mostly composed of kids (who were there waiting to see the war aviation movie Ace of Aces), felt that the movie was too long by ten minutes, and that further character-set up was necessary. To accommodate this DeMille added in the opening blurb that the movie was filmed on real locations and he included brief bios for each of the four frightened people. DeMille then screened the movie and deemed the test audience was correct, and cut a "thousand feet" from the film, resulting in the 17 minutes cut from the test version. So then, the 96-minute "longer" cut was never actually shown to a mass audience; the only certain thing about it was that it included sequences with Ethel Griffies, who played the mother of Arnold Ainger (Herbert Marshall).

Babe London, who was living in Hawaii in 1933, wrote to deMille in hopes of getting a part in the film when the crew arrived on the island.

Cecil B. DeMille considered Preston Foster and Gordon Westcott during casting for the role that went to William Gargan.

Claudette Colbert was still filming Torch Singer when pre-production began on this film, and the shooting schedule was tailored accordingly so as not to interfere.