Cameron Mitchell and Russell Evans were both considered for the lead role in January and February 1955, respectively. Also Felipe Méndez, January Svelk, Jaime Del Rosario, Jack Maner and Gilda Fontaine were originally going to appear in the picture.
Edward Dmytryk was originally assigned to direct (The Hollywood Reporter, August 1954).
Studio publicity material credited René Cardona as co-director and Jorge Stahl Jr. as Lucien Ballard's camera operator, but it is unknown if they ever worked on this picture and likely that they had been only hired to make sure union requirements were fulfilled.
The real Fr Junipero Serra was beatified (called "blessed") by the Catholic Church some years ago, which is the first step towards sainthood. He is now referred to as Blessed Junipero Serra.