Marlon Brando was offered the role of Jamie Tyrone in the film, but turned it down after walking out of the play halfway through a performance.
Jason Robards reprises his Broadway role as James Tyrone, Jr., for which he was nominated for the 1957 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He also played James Tyrone, Jr., both on Broadway and on TV, in Eugene O'Neill's sequel, A Moon for the Misbegotten. In his later career, Robards played James Tyrone, Sr. (the father) in several productions of "Long Day's Journey Into Night," including a 1988 Broadway revival at the Neil Simon Theater.
At one point during rehearsals, Sidney Lumet felt that Ralph Richardson wasn't really getting the proper measure of his character, James Tyrone. Lumet took the actor aside and launched into a 45 minute lecture about his character's motivations. Richardson finally stopped him by saying "I see what you mean, dear boy, a little more cello, a little less flute". Lumet confessed to being enormously impressed with this way of expressing it.
Filmed entirely in sequence after three weeks of rehearsal.
The Broadway play by Eugene O'Neill opened at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York on November 7, 1956 and ran for 390 performances. The stage production included Florence Eldridge, Fredric March and Katharine Ross and won the 1957 Tony Award for the Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1957.