The film takes place from September 17 to September 26, 1944.
This film received its USA premiere in Los Angeles when it was televised Monday 5 June 1950 on KECA (Channel 7), marking the 6th anniversary of D-Day. In New York City, its earliest documented telecast took place Thursday 9 November 1950 on the DuMont Television Network's London Playhouse on WABD (Channel 5).
In the winter of 1944/1945 a diesel-electric multiple unit train was hit by shellfire. The train set stood on the end track at the Rhine railway bridge in Arnhem. The Dutch Railways had the intention to repair the train for an amount of 8,200 guilders. However, on September 13, 1945, a number of houses intended for demolition were set on fire near the railway bridge for filming and the trains set up near the bridge were also set on fire. The railcars (i.e. having their own power units) and carriages were irreparably damaged. The DE3 49 unit was completely burned. As a result of the heat, the railcar even sank to the ground. On February 12, 1946, the wrecks were removed for scrapping. After a long legal procedure, the Dutch Railways received compensation in 1951 for the loss of the usable rolling stock.
As reported by the Dutch public broadcasting organization NOS, among the Dutch doctors and nurses playing themselves in the film, is Kate Ter Horst. She had cared for more than 250 wounded British soldiers in the parsonage in Oosterbeek the year before, where she lived with her husband and five children. She was held in high esteem by the British troops as the 'Angel of Arnhem'. Ter Horst had initially refused to appear in the film, because she thought the role was too much of an honor, but she was persuaded by the British veterans. She was played by Liv Ullmann later on in the film A Bridge Too Far (1977).
Lieutenant Hugh Ashmore said he auditioned for the film because he had the ambition to become an actor after the war, but found out he was no good, because he 'froze' as soon as the cameras rolled. Consequently, his briefing scene in front of a map needed 26 takes, even with his lines written out on a blackboard behind the camera. He considered the largely unflappable, phlegmatic demeanor of the soldiers the main problem of the film: "That's because nobody is shooting at them. It's very different from those mortar shells going off all around you. It was very easy to know that that was just an explosion that the technician had put down on the ground. It was very hard to get into a state. We weren't frightened enough. During the [real] battle, it was very hectic from time to time. I don't think [we behaved like that] at all."