'Merian Cooper''s enthusiasm for this movie was curtailed when he was told he had less than half the budget of King Kong to work with, and he had to have it in theaters within six months, for Christmas 1933 release.
One of the scenes involving pterodactyls flying in the far background was matted into Citizen Kane during the scene where Kane and "friends" make for the beach from Xanadu - this was done to save production costs.
The Little Kong puppet is actually the "long face" Kong model used for the T-Rex battle in King Kong. For this film the armature (metal skeleton) was stripped of its rubber and fur and remodeled to look like a younger albino gorilla.
The name for the "junior" Kong was Kiko, though it was never used. RKO's promoters gave "Little Kong" the name Kiko after completion of the film. Kiko is an abbreviation of the name King Kong.