Horse trainer Jack Lindell found and trained the horse who played Smoky for three months. He would stand behind the camera and use a series of signals with sticks, somewhat like semaphore, to control the horse's behavior.
Burl Ives sings seven songs in this film, while strumming a guitar. The songs include: "Smoky," music traditional, new lyrics/arrangement by Ives; "Streets of Laredo (The Cowboy's Lament)," traditional; "Woolly Boogie Bee," based on "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," traditional, arrangement by Ives, sung as a duet with Fred MacMurray; "There Was an Old Man," music /lyrics by Ives; "Jimmy Crack Corn (The Blue Tail Fly)," music /lyrics generally credited to Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels in the 1840s; "The Foggy Dew" and "Down in the Valley," both from traditional tunes with new arrangements by Ives.
Parts of this film were shot in Utah: Zion National Park; Kanab Race Track; Cave Lakes; Aspen Mirror Lake; The Gap; Rockville Road; Kanab Canyon; Ogden; and Cedar Breaks. Other locations include Fredonia, AZ; Cheyenne, WY; Burbank and Saugus, CA.
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