Cliff Robertson, an accomplished pilot, wanted to buy one of the Mosquitoes after filming had finished, as he was so impressed with the type. He was not permitted to do this but he later bought a Spitfire Mk IX which he owned until the late 1990s.
When the film was released, critics derided the wooden acting and hackneyed plot, especially the miscast "Mirisch Pictures" contract star George Chakiris.
Most of the attack on the Fjord at the end of the film was done with 1/48-scale Mosquito models.
One of the Mosquitoes seen in the film (number TA639) is on show in the permanent collection of World War II aircraft at the RAF Museum at Cosford in Shropshire, UK.