The scene with William Holden losing control and tumbling in the X-2 is depicted with footage from test pilot Chuck Yeager's 70,000-foot free-fall in the Bell X-1A in 1953.
The XB-51 serving as the film's Gilbert XF-120 did not survive the making of the film. While in the process of shooting additional flight footage, the pilot attempted to get the plane to lift without the full thrust required, with the result that the plane prematurely rotated and stalled, crashing at the end of the Edwards runway. The crash killed pilot Major James R. Rudolf and radar officer Staff Sgt. Wilbur R. Savage, and destroyed the only surviving prototype of the plane.
Feature film debut of James Garner but Garner earlier appeared in the RKO production Joan of Arc (1948) as a tumbler. He also appeared in Warner Bros.' The Girl He Left Behind (1956), which was released approximately one week before, but shot one month after, Toward the Unknown (1956).
The uncredited little boy playing James Garner's son is five-year-old actor Jon Provost who a year later would start playing "Timmy" in the TV series Lassie (1954).
The Gilbert XF-120 is the prototype Martin XB-51, an unsuccessful tactical bomber design. It was first flown in 1949 and was unusual in that it was powered by three engines. Another unusual feature was its variable-incidence wing. Only two prototypes were made. The tactical bomber role was given to the Martin B-57 Canberra.
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