The Golden Head (1964) received its much belated U.S. premiere screening on September 8, 2009, at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, where the only surviving print of the film played for one night only, as a double feature with Holiday in Spain (1960) (the latter under its UK title - "Holiday in Spain").
Production began in three-camera Cinerama but switched to one-camera Super Technirama 70. A few action scenes were photographed in MCS 70, a Todd-AO clone.
John Le Mesurier, in his autobiography, described going to Budapest to appear in this film and mentioned Lionel Jeffries as also being in it. Neither actor appears in the finished film, however.
Richard Thorpe replaced original director James Hill. At the same time, Lorraine Power replaced Hayley Mills, and George Sanders replaced Lionel Jeffries, although it is unclear whether either Mills or Jeffries ever stepped before the cameras.
Before director James Hill was replaced, Otto Preminger filmed an unbilled cameo as a favor to producer Alexander Paal, who had been a still photographer on Preminger's films Exodus (1960) and The Cardinal (1963). Preminger believed his cameo was discarded when Hill's scenes were reshot by replacement director Richard Thorpe.