This film was one of the biggest hits of Billy Wilder's career. He expected a big piece of the profits. The studio accountants informed him that since his last picture Ace in the Hole lost money, the money that picture lost would be subtracted from his profits on this film. Wilder left Paramount shortly after that.
To improve the chances for commercial success in West Germany (at that time already an important market for Hollywood) a Paramount executive suggested to Billy Wilder that he should make the camp guards Poles rather than Germans. Wilder, whose mother and stepfather had died in the concentration camps, furiously refused and demanded an apology from the executive. When it didn't come, Wilder did not extend his contract at Paramount
Von Scherbach and the other officers of the camp are wearing Wermacht (Army) uniforms and caps. The stalag camps were operated by the Luftwaffe and, therefore, their caps and uniforms would have been slightly different (obvious from the emblems on the officer's caps).