Actor John Buckler who played "Captain John Fry" died in an automobile accident one week prior to the release of this film and never got the chance to see it.
Film footage of the Murchison Falls in Africa, shot for W.S. Van Dyke's Trader Horn (1931), was used in Tarzan Escapes (1936), as was footage from Tarzan and His Mate (1934) and Tarzan the Ape Man (1932).
The original director was James C. McKay, who filmed many gruesome scenes. In July 1936, he was replaced by John Farrow who practically re-shot the entire film. There were also cast and crew changes: Granville Bates was dropped from the cast, while Herbert Mundin was added, playing a new character. Darby Jones replaced Everett Brown as "Bomba"; Elmer Sheeley replaced Cedric Gibbons as art director; A. Arnold Gillespie replaced James Basevi for special effects; Tom Tutwiler replaced 'Max Fabian' for photographic effects; and Charles Salerno Jr. replaced cameramen Virgil W. Vogel and Walter Strenge.
Three films into the series, Tarzan and Jane's nest-like home in the trees has expanded into a Swiss Family Robinson-like home with running water and an elephant-manipulated elevator to bring people up to the home.