Director and co-writer Ken Annakin had been working on an adventure film about transatlantic flight, when the producer's bankrutpcy aborted the production. He then made this film.
The configuration of several aircraft changes from shot to shot. This includes the Bristol Boxkite which, in some scenes has two rudders and in others has three. The Antoinette is changed the most. In close ups it has thin "wing warping" wings. In others it has thick modern glider wings with ailerons with redundant support wires added. These changes occurred when it became clear that the accurate replicas of 1910 flying machines, originally built were not airworthy enough. Details are provided in Allen Wheeler's book "Building Aeroplanes for Those Magnificent Men."