Liberace, who was in 1945 performing as "Walter 'Buster' Keys," stated that he got the idea of having an ornate candelabra on his piano from the scene in this film when George Sand (Merle Oberon) carries a candelabra into the darkened salon and places it on the piano to reveal Chopin as the pianist rather than Franz Liszt.
To play Chopin's piano solos, Columbia Pictures first attempted to engage Artur Rubinstein, then Vladimir Horowitz. Rubinstein was offended when he was greeted by Columbia president Harry Cohn with a boisterous "Hiya, Ruby!" Horowitz got along better with Cohn, but did not wish to perform the severely cut versions of the Chopin pieces the film required.
Was originally set to be directed by Frank Capra following Lost Horizon (1937) and to star Francis Lederer as Chopin, Paul Muni as Elsner and Marlene Dietrich as George Sand after an attempt to borrow Spencer Tracy and Greta Garbo from MGM failed. Production delays on 'Lost Horizon' forced Capra to abandon the project until Columbia Pictures revived the project in 1944 with Charles Vidor directing and Paul Muni appearing as Elsner. Capra sued for breach of contract in 1946 but the lawsuit was eventually settled out of court.
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