According to the film's review in The Hollywood Reporter, the movie was released about 18 months after it was finished, but the cause of the delay is not known.
When Campbell introduces his assistant Vance to the Sherriff Ambers, she tells him "guaranteed no relations to Philo". She is referring to Philo Vance a fictional character in crime novels written by S.S. Van Dine.
Jane Wyman (for The Blue Veil (1951)) and Eleanor Parker (for Detective Story (1951)) both competed for Best Actress at the 1953 Academy Awards, but they lost to Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).
In a December 1941 press release, Warner Bros. announced this film as a vehicle for Humphrey Bogart.