Rudolph Valentino wanted George Fitzmaurice to direct this film, but the studio forced him to work with the less highly regarded Fred Niblo instead.
According to author James Kirkwood, Jr., whose mother Lila Lee played Carmen in "Blood and Sand," Rudolph Valentino liked to eat traditional Italian foods, heavily spiced with garlic. Therefore Lee asked that her love scenes with Valentino be shot in the morning so she wouldn't have to deal with his garlic breath after lunch.