Sir Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer were husband and wife in real-life.
The original Broadway production of "The Four Poster" by Jan de Hartog opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York City on October 24, 1951, ran for six hundred thirty-two performances, starred real-life couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and won the 1952 Tony Award for the Best Play. The author wrote the play and the screenplay for the movie version.
Val Lewton was involved with pre-production when he died prematurely.
Joseph Losey was interested in directing this movie, but blacklisting intervened. He later claimed that it had been his idea to bring in John Hubley to create animated sequences to bridge the various scenes from one period to the next. (Hubley was also blacklisted later).
The animated sequences inspired the animators at Zagreb Film, who were intrigued by its abstracted designs and stylized movements. They analyzed a print sent to Yugoslavia to try and figure out how the animation was achieved. These animators would later take the experimental UPA style and push it further, creating what has been termed the "Zagreb school of animation".