Walt Disney never traveled out to Tobago to visit the shoot.
Tommy Kirk considered quitting at one point as he was so desperately homesick.
Dorothy McGuire, Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran had previously played a family in Disney's Old Yeller.
A huge fan of the film, George Lucas named Anakin Skywalker after the director of this film, Ken Annakin.
Although set in a tropical paradise, the filming in Tobago was considerably hampered by almost constant rain.
Among the Robinson's pets are: Duke and Turk the dogs, Rocky the elephant, Lightning the donkey, Clementine the ostrich, and Duchess the Zebra.
As revealed by director Ken Annakin on the DVD commentary, the trapped zebra was subjected to electric shock treatment to make it move about, a practice that is now illegal in Hollywood movies.
At the box office, the film took roughly $40,000,000 (around $367,000,000 in today's money), making it one of the most successful family films ever made.
Disney has officially announced that a remake is in development with Mandeville Films co-producing the movie. It is scheduled to be released in 2012.
Duke, one of the Robinson's guardian Great Danes, stars in a later Disney film, as Brutus, the Ugly Dachshund.
Many of the animal scenes would not be allowed in a film today, due to laws governing the use of animals in movies.
One of Disney's rare widescreen films, shot with Panavision lenses. Previous widescreen efforts from Disney had usually been in CinemaScope.
The anaconda was actually pregnant during filming.
The climactic battle was a direct influence on the final Ewok skirmish in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.
The Disney Studios bought up the rights to the 1940 version produced and distributed by RKO, then Walt Disney confiscated all known prints of RKO Radio Pictures version so there wouldn't be comparisons to the Disney remake.
When the studio acquired the rights to Johann David Wyss' novel, they essentially junked about 90% of it. Ken Annakin and his technicians brainstormed all the things they'd like to have seen in a desert island picture, storyboarded their wishlist and then handed it all over to screenwriter Lowell Hawley.