On 19 November 1933, during location filming in Mexico, Lee Tracy, originally cast as Johnny Sykes, got drunk and urinated from his hotel balcony onto a passing military parade. He was arrested, fired from the film and replaced by Stuart Erwin. Original director Howard Hawks was also fired for refusing to testify against Tracy, and replaced by Jack Conway. However, in his autobiography, Charles G. Clarke, the cinematographer on the picture, said that he was standing outside the hotel during the parade and the incident never happened. Tracy, he said, was standing on the balcony observing the parade when a Mexican in the street below made an obscene gesture at him. Tracy replied in kind, and the next day a local newspaper printed a story that said, in effect, Tracy had insulted Mexico, Mexicans in general and the Mexican flag in particular. The story caused an uproar in Mexico, and MGM decided to sacrifice Tracy in order to be allowed to continue filming there.
The "Running W" was a device used on horses at that time which made them fall before the camera at a specific point of an action scene, often killing or injuring the animal so badly that it had to be put down. It involved a harness on the horse secured to "piano" wire which was attached to a stationary object.As the horse reached the end of the length of wire,running full tilt, it would be "tripped". The practice was finally halted after complaints from the A.S.P.C.A. The "Running W" wires can be seen clearly attached to the horses which were "shot down" in the final battle scene of this film.
The film drew a lot of adverse publicity in France, since one of the military medals worn by the character of Gen. Pascal closely resembled the Legion of Honour, France's highest accolade. MGM had to apologize for bringing the medal into disrepute and David O. Selznick was forced to send a memo to the art and props departments of the studio telling them to design medals more along the lines of Czarist Russia.
San Marcos, one of the film's prime locations was virtually a ghost town with cast and crew having to stay in abandoned buildings and dilapidated railway carriages without any amenities.
Wallace Beery hated filming on Mexican locations and had a private plane on stand-by to whisk him off to El Paso or Mexico City anytime his schedule permitted.