"Academy Award Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on July 31, 1946 with Olivia de Havilland reprising her film role.
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie onNovember 10, 1941 with Charles Boyer and Paulette Goddard reprising their film roles.
"Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 15, 1949 with Charles Boyer reprising his film role.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 8, 1943 with Charles Boyer reprising his film role.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 31, 1948 with Charles Boyer again reprising his film role.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 4, 1950 with Olivia de Havilland and Charles Boyer reprising their film roles.
Mitchell Leisen joined the Screen Actors Guild so he could play the part of the director of I Wanted Wings, but he donated his acting wages to charity. The scene depicted from that movie was reshot specifically for inclusion in this movie.
A couple of promotional songs were published in connection with the film: "Hold Back the Dawn" by Richard Loring & Steven Cross, and "A Sinner Kissed an Angel" by Ray Joseph & Mack David.
Iscovescu appears at the Paramount soundstage to peddle his life story to director Mitchell Leisen. Veronica Lake and Richard Webb are shown rehearsing a scene from I Wanted Wings (also directed by Leisen). This scene was actually filmed during the production of "I Wanted Wings".
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.
Paramount paid $5000 for Ketti Frings' story "Memo to a Movie Producer," before any novel was published. The working title of the movie therefore was "Memo to a Movie Producer," but was changed to "Hold Back the Dawn" when the novel was published before the movie was released.
The hotel in Tijuana where the immigrants wait anxiously for U.S. visas is the Hotel Esperanza. Esperanza is Spanish for "hope."
The original script included an early scene where Charles Boyer talks to a cockroach in his room. Boyer dismissed the scene as idiotic and convinced director Mitchell Leisen to delete it; screenwriters Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett were so incensed at Leisen for giving in they resolved to direct and produce their own movies from then on.