Nicholas Ray came out from New York with Elia Kazan for Kazan's directorial debut. Besides his brief appearance in the cast as a bakery clerk, various sources have Ray working as assistant director and assisting Alfred Newman with the score, but studio records officially list him as dialogue director.
Fred MacMurray campaigned for the role of Johnny Nolan and Alice Faye was at one time considered for Aunt Sissy.
Gene Tierney was originally cast as Katie Nolan. When Tierney became pregnant, Dorothy McGuire was given the role.
After being so impressed by the dailies of the film, executives at Fox wanted to re-shoot the entire movie in Technicolor, but Elia Kazan refused.
Besides Gene Tierney, Mary Anderson and Jeanne Crain were rumored for the Katie Nolan role, while it was reported that Phil Regan was the leading candidate for the role of Johnny. Alice Faye was the first actress considered for the role of Katie, not Aunt Sissie, according to the Hollywood Reporter in 1943.
Director Elia Kazan and Betty Smith, author of the novel the film was based on, were classmates at the Yale School of Drama.
The Betty Smith novel was the object of pre-publication bidding competition among several studios, with Darryl F. Zanuck and 20th Century-Fox ultimately paying $55,000 for the rights.