Its plot involves an American insurance investigator who is sent to Rhodesia in Southern Africa to investigate the suspicous death of a major diamond dealer.
Although the copyright states that the screenplay was based on an original story by S. K. Kennedy, a July 1953 Variety article reports that screenwriters Samuel Marx and Tommy Morrison used a German novel originally published in 1942 as its source.
Portions of the film were shot in South Africa at Port Elizabeth, Bechuanaland, Victoria Falls and Johannesburg. An October 1953 Daily Variety news item stated that scenes were shot at Krueger National Park.
During production, assistant director Anthony Kelly died when he was thrown from his overturned canoe into a whirlpool on the Zambesi River and then into the jaws of crocodiles
The Hollywood Reporter review noted that after audiences at a July 29, 1954 Los Angeles preview jeered at the film's ending, Warner Bros. re-edited the final scenes. The Variety review lists the running time of the British release as 105 minutes; reviews of the American version list the running time as 98 min