Kenneth More had his legs cased in Aluminium in order to accurately convey Bader's style of walking with his metal legs.
Kenneth More initially felt he was too old to play Bader.
Douglas Bader personally asked Dinah Sheridan to play the part of his wife, but her husband did not want her to accept the role.
Douglas Bader received a CBE from the Queen (Commander of the British Empire) for services to the disabled the same year that the film was released.
Biggest grossing British film of 1956 and the most successful film in England since Gone with the Wind.
Originally scripted with Richard Burton in mind for the lead role. The book 'The Golden Gong - Fifty years of the Rank Organisation, its films and its stars' by Quentin Falk states that Kenneth More " . . . was second choice, after Richard Burton, to play the Second World War fighter pilot Douglas Bader."
The nursing cap and badge worn by Anne Leon was loaned by the real life Matron Thornhill from Brompton Hospital. As portrayed in the film, the then Sister Thornhill nursed Bader in the critical weeks following his accident. Miss Thornhill visited the set during the filming of the hospital scenes, casting a critical eye over the hospital procedures.
This film's opening prologue states: "Douglas Bader has become a legend in his own life time. His courage was not only an example to those in War but is now a source of inspiration to many in Peace. For dramatic purposes it has been necessary in this film to transpose in time certain events in Douglas Bader's life and also to re-shape some of the characters involved in this story. The Producers apologise to those who may have been affected by any changes or omissions."