cy endfield was inspired to make the film after reading an article on the battle of rorke's drift by john prebble. he took it to actor stanley baker with whom he had made several films and who was interested in moving into production. endfield and prebble drafted a script, which baker then showed to joseph e. levine while making "sodom and gomorrah" (1962) in italy. levine agreed to fund the movie, which was produced by baker's company, diamond films. it was shot using the super technirama 70 cinematographic process, and distributed by paramount pictures in all countries excluding the united states, where it was distributed by embassy pictures.