The Gypsy Moths

During filming at the airfield in Benton, Kansas, Director John Frankenheimer wanted to get a real, horrified reaction from the extras playing the audience, so he had a mannequin dressed like a skydiver and tied it under a helicopter, which ascended several hundred feet, then released the dummy. Most of the people hadn't noticed what had been rigged up, so when it fell, they thought it was a real person hitting the ground and he got the reaction he was looking for. One minor problem was that the pilot didn't gauge the wind accurately and the "skydiver" fell into some parked cars, narrowly missing some people and caving in the roof of an extra's car. The studio bought the car for several times what it was worth and the damaged vehicle spent the rest of the shooting behind one of the hangars.

As the plane flies over the first airfield in the film, the town's name of Bridgeville is clearly painted on the airport's hangar. The skydivers pack up, leave town, drive for what seems half a day or so to the next town, and arrive, again, in Bridgeville.

For the film's premier at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, MGM removed a scene of striptease in order for the film to receive an "M" rating (suggested for mature audiences, parental description advised). This was since the Radio City Music Hall at the time would only play movies that carried a "G" or "M" rating. The scene was restored when the film played everywhere else in the United States with the rating changed to "R".