This film's earliest documented telecasts took place in Cincinnati Friday 10 March 1950 on WKRC (Channel 11), in New York City Saturday 27 May 1950 on WATV (Channel 13), and again Sunday 11 June 1950 on WPIX (Channel 11), in Philadelphia Monday 24 July 1950 on WPZ (Channel 3), and in San Francisco Sunday 13 August 1950 on KRON (Channel 4).
The high altitude balloon flight seen in this film was real, and footage from the actual preparation and flight is used here. The National Geographic Society and the US Army collaborated on the mission. There were two flights, Explorer 1 and Explorer 2, launched in 1934 and 1935 respectively. Explorer 1 almost lead to disaster when the balloon burst and the hydrogen gas caught fire. The three men in the capsule were able to escape via parachute, the third man escaping just barely in time, at a mere 500 feet above the ground. The second flight used helium and was more rigorously checked for safety. Explorer 2 successfully reached a height of 72,395 feet, a record that stood for twenty years. The two-man crew were the first humans to see the curvature of the Earth, and gathered a large amount of scientific data on the stratosphere. The balloon landed safely without the dramatic elements seen in this film.
Location shooting for the airfield was filmed at Mines Field in Los Angeles. Mines Field later developed into LAX airport.