The role of the gorilla was played by one of Hollywood's leading gorilla performers, Charles Gemora. This would be his penultimate film performance. For the remaining few years of his life, he resumed his job as a makeup artist.
At one point, Pat Boone addresses a fellow cadet as a "rat". This refers to the Virginia Military Institute tradition of calling new cadets "rats" who participate in the "rat line" of freshman indoctrination. This was a centerpiece of the 1938 service comedy, "Brother Rat".
Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter (in his Marine uniform) made their uncredited cameos in this film while shooting "In Love and War" (1958).