Universal (then Universal-International) made this low budget horror film because they needed a second feature to play with their U.S. release of the Hammer production The Brides of Dracula (1960).
The interior set of the Talbots' ranch house living room was also used in the 1958 Universal spookfest The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958).
The exterior wide shots of the Talbots' "jungle safari" following a "river in Africa" were filmed on the Universal Studio's backlot, and the hills visible in the background actually border on the Hollywood freeway.
Stars Coleen Gray and Phillip Terry were so into their performances as a feuding couple that they didn't even get along off-camera either.
The film's working title was The Leech. According to contemporary reviews, the filmmakers mixed stock footage of African wildlife and tribal dances with scenes shot in the studio.