A print of this film was loaned to MGM where another science fiction spectacle, Forbidden Planet, was being prepared.
According to Faith Domergue, the pants of her costume were so skintight that she could not wear underwear. A female assistant had to help her put them on and take them off.
After Dr. Meacham has arrived at the secret lab in Georgia and the scientists are having a dinner, a woman comments the music playing at the background by saying: "Mozartti on oikein kaunista." This is Finnish and means "The music of Mozart is very beautiful."
After the dinner at the secret facility, what the German scientist says is: "Ladies and gentlemen, the meal was excellent, but after Mozart's marvelous music I need to be alone with myself for a while. Good evening."
In a magazine article the special effects department admitted that the "mutant" costume originally had legs that matched the upper body but they had so much trouble making the legs look and work properly they were forced by studio deadline to simply have the mutant wear a pair of trousers. Posters of the movie show the mutant as it was supposed to appear.
In August 1957, this film was being shown on a double bill with Invaders from Mars.
Most of the sound effects, the ship, the interociter, etc are simply recordings of radio teletype transmissions picked up on a short wave radio played at various speeds.
The film was shown in drive-in theaters in the US in the summer of 1960 on a double bill with Forbidden Planet. It was also re-issued in theaters in America in July 1964. There is a three-color 1964 reissue of the full-color 1955 one-sheet and an abridged 1964 version of the 1955 press book.
The only woman from Metaluna seen in the film is played by Charlotte Lander, in her only screen appearance, at the control console for the decompression tubes on board the saucer.
The wooden crates used to deliver the "interociter" parts were themselves reused in Imitation of Life. In a scene where Susan Kohner is beaten by 'Troy Donahue' (v) she slumps on a crate in an alley. On the top of the crate is stenciled "Ryberg Electronics", the company featured in this film.
There was a sequel to this film in the works in 1956. Screenwriter Franklin Coen and producer William Alland submitted a script titled "Aliens In The Skies" to Universal Pictures, and for a short time it was announced as in "pre-production development" at the studio. However, the studio boss, Edward Muhl, shot down their proposal when he looked over the proposed budget for the film, to be shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope, and to co-star Rex Reason and Faith Domergue reprising their roles, to be released in 1957. It was too expensive, he said. Muhl's idea of a science-fiction movie in the 1950s was a cheaply-made B-movie with a monster in it for the kids.
This movie was featured in the Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.
Universal, dissatisfied with some of Joseph M. Newman's work, brought in Jack Arnold to re-shoot the Metaluna scenes.