T.E. Lawrence declined invitations to film his writings as early as 1926, when Rex Ingram suggested the idea. Later, Alexander Korda tried to launch a version starring Leslie Howard, written by John Monk Saunders and directed by Lewis Milestone. Over the years, such stars as Robert Donat, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Burgess Meredith, and Alan Ladd were all promoted as leads. Screenwriter Michael Wilson finally convinced Lawrence's brother to sell the film rights to Sam Spiegel by submitting his screenplay for approval in 1960.
T.E. Lawrence's brother, A.E. Lawrence, who was also executor of his will, wasn't keen on the film's representation of his brother so he didn't allow the use of his sibling's autobiography title "Seven Pillars of Wisdom".
T.E. Lawrence's brother, Cambridge archaeologist A.W. Lawrence, saw the film and said he didn't recognize his brother in it.
After deciding to cast an unknown actor in the role of T.E. Lawrence, David Lean arranged a screen test for Albert Finney shortly before the release of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, which made Finney a star. The extensive screen test involved costumes, sets and included actors Ferdy Mayne and Laurence Payne, and was shot over four days at a cost of £100,000. In addition to Lean, the test was attended by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, assistant director Gerry O'Hara, editor Anne V. Coates, producer Sam Spiegel and Anthony Nutting, an expert on Arabian history. It was unanimously agreed that the screen test was excellent, and Finney was offered the part of Lawrence but turned it down, as he did not want to be committed to the long-term contract he would have been required to sign.
After the tremendous success of The Bridge on the River Kwai, producer Sam Spiegel and David Lean were keen to work together on a similarly worthy topic. Initially the pair considered making a film of the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi but soon gave up on that.
Almost all movement in the film goes from left to right. David Lean said he did this to emphasize that the film was a journey.
Although 227 minutes long, this film has no women in speaking roles. It is reportedly the longest film not to have any dialog spoken by a woman.
Although women have no lines in the film, they occasionally can be seen in the background of some scenes. For the Arabian ones, tradition forbade Bedouin women from being photographed so costume designer Phyllis Dalton had some Christian women dress up in the flowing robes.
An urban myth stated that T.E. Lawrence's watch switches from his left wrist to the right in the film. Restorer Robert A. Harris actually found this to be true, but only because the second reel of film had been spliced in reverse.
At one point when filming was progressing far too slowly for his liking, producer Sam Spiegel invited William Wyler to visit the set. He wanted Wyler to encourage Lean to rely more on his second units for filming additional scenes, as he had done on Ben-Hur. The visit was to no avail, however, as Lean was too much of a perfectionist to relinquish control.
Because filming was not possible in the complete darkness of night, the night scenes were filmed during the day with light filters on the lenses; this is also the reason there is shadows from the camels during the night scenes.
Costume designer Phyllis Dalton deliberately made Peter O'Toole's army outfit too small and ill-fitting to signify T.E. Lawrence's discomfort with the military uniform.
Costume designer Phyllis Dalton devised a subtle way to indicate T.E. Lawrence's failing grip. As the film progresses, his robes become thinner and thinner until they are virtually translucent.
Director David Lean originally wanted Albert Finney for the title role. Katharine Hepburn urged producer Sam Spiegel to cast Peter O'Toole instead.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1970s, Peter O'Toole was describing just how long the movie took to make by referring to the scene when T.E. Lawrence and Gen. Allenby, after their meeting, continue talking while walking down a staircase. According to O'Toole, part of the scene had to be reshot much later, "so in the final print, when I get to the bottom of the stairs, I'm a year older than I was when I started walking down them."
Elaborate screen tests with Albert Finney as Lawrence were shot at a cost of 100,000 pounds. Finney later balked at producer Sam Spiegel's demand that he sign a seven-year contract if he accepted the role, and dropped out, replaced by Peter O'Toole, already under contract to Speigel.
For the 1989 reconstruction and restoration, many scenes of dialog were missing. As a result Peter O'Toole and a number of living principals returned and re-recorded dialog from more than 20 years previously. For principals who had died in the intervening years sound alike actors were employed (for instance for Jack Hawkins).
Gen. Murray (Donald Wolfit)'s line about the Arab revolt being "a sideshow of a sideshow" was actually spoken in real life by T.E. Lawrence himself, several years after the war.
General Allenby's Jersualem headquarters was filmed at the Moorish mansion, Casa de Pilatos, in Seville. While setting up there, the lighting crew accidentally smashed a centuries old statue. Fortunately, the authorities were appeased and filming was allowed to continue.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #7 Greatest Movie of All Time.