originally under the working title of "a great desire", the film was intended as a vehicle for ann harding and leslie howard. director dorothy arzner and playwright zoë akins based the character of cynthia on british aviator amy johnson. in the novel, cynthia is a racing driver. "christopher strong" represented the first opportunity for hepburn to begin developing her screen image as an independent modern woman. this was the only time in her film career that hepburn played the "other woman".