Cornel Wilde cast Lee Grant, who at that time had been blacklisted because of the Joseph McCarthy "red scare" that gripped Hollywood. This was her only feature role in the eight-year span between her debut, Detective Story (1951), and Middle of the Night (1959). Grant later noted that she earned enough money on the film to afford to have a baby; her daughter, Dinah Manoff, went on to become a Tony-winning actress.
Tiring of playing heroic roles, Cornel Wilde deliberately cast himself as the villain, and then emphasized this switch by giving the sickly husband role to perennial bad guy Dan Duryea.
Cornel Wilde and Jean Wallace were married at the time of this film and they also co-owned Theodora Productions which produced this picture.
The scene where a drunk Lee Grant begins singing seems to have been inspired by Claire Trevor's similar scene in Key Largo (1948).
Storm Fear (1955) marked the directing debut of Cornel Wilde and first screenplay by Horton Foote who went on to win Academy Awards® for his screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Tender Mercies (1983). The film was shot on location in Sun Valley, ID and in Los Angeles at the KTTV studios. Although the onscreen credit states "Introducing Steven Hill", his debut was in the 1950 M-G-M production A Lady Without Passport (1950).,
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