A National Airlines DC-6 was repainted with fictional "Trans States" titles and insignia for a majority of the ground and aerial scenes, with the exception of a few scenes where models were used instead of the real aircraft.
In this film, _Efrem Zimbalist Jr._ plays a military jet pilot who crashes his plane into the commercial DC-6 piloted by Dana Andrews. About a decade and a half later, Andrews would return the favor as his character's private plane crashed into Zimbalist's commercial jet in Airport 1975.
While Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Troy Donahue are talking in the airport coffee shop, the music playing in the background is "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith and His Orchestra, taken from a movie in which Donahue starred: A Summer Place.