In one of the school scenes, the children say the Pledge of Allegiance with their right arms extended, pointed toward the flag. This was the Bellamy Salute suggested by the socialist Francis Bellamy (brother of futurist author Edward) who wrote the original version of the Pledge. Due to its similarity to the Nazi and Fascist salute, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the position to hand-over-the-heart. This was later codified into law in 1942.
The 81-day shooting schedule was at the time the longest and costliest for Republic Pictures.
The novel is actually made up of four short stories: "The Gift," "The Great Mountain," "The Leader of the People" and "The Promise." Each was published separately in magazines between 1933 and 1937.