Because the UK government deemed the script to be prejudicial to British interests, it refused to cooperate. Therefore, all British troops were portrayed by Australian troops who were, at the time, running operations along the Malaysian-Thai border.
Certain aspects of the character Ferris are based on a rubber planter by the name of Haddon-Cave. His was the only rubber plantation to escape terrorist attack in Malaya. Haddon-Cave was suspected of collusion with the MNLA by General Templer. When Templer investigated, he found the actual reason for the planter's immunity from attacks was, as Haddon-Cave put it, "we have the best damned security perimeter in the country". Templer was forced to agree.
During a forced break in filming due to heavy rains, a Malay Bomoh, or shaman, was hired to predict when the rains would cease. His prediction was spot on and filming resumed.
During location shooting in the Malaysian jungle, William Holden was bitten by a python. Since pythons are non-venomous, his wound was treated and he continued filming the movie.
Filming was delayed when actual squatters took up residence in the Chinese squatter village set. After their removal, filming resumed and the Chinese squatters stayed to watch. When the village is torched, crying and wailing can be heard. This wasn't from the Malay extras but from the real squatters who just lost their new home.
In one scene filmed on the Genting Sempah highway, the MNLA ambush a rubber planter played by Maurice Denham. His car, an Aston Martin saloon, flies over a cliff and explodes in mid-air. Originally, the car was to blow up on impact with the ground but the explosives detonated early. As it was too expensive to film again, the scene stayed in the movie.
Michael Keon, author of "The Durian Tree" on which "The 7th Dawn" is based, was a journalist working as Australian Press Attaché in China during the Communist revolution. During that time, it was rumored that he operated as a spy for Western intelligence.
Near the start of the movie, Ferris is allowed to pass through a Malayan People's Liberation Army road ambush. The insurgents are Malay not Chinese as indicated by their conversation - "Jangan tembak. Nanti." -Don't shoot. Wait.
Tetsuro Tamba, a Japanese actor, plays Ng, the Chinese commander of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army.
The actor who plays the Japanese commander at the surrender ceremony was R. William Koh, a Chinese businessman who was a member of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army during WWII.
The author, Michael Keon, during his stay in Malaya, met with three communist MPLA members. One he referred to as Ng, a pseudonym. This person bears a strong resemblance to Ng, the character in the novel and the movie.
The British High Commissioner of Malaya in 1953 (when the film was set) was General (later Field Marshall) Sir Gerald Templer. The character of Trumphey more closely resembles the next British High Commissioner of Malaya Sir Donald Charles MacGillivray.
The character Dhana is described as half-Vietnamese, half-French yet her name is not Vietnamese (or French). It is a Hindi name meaning "wealthy". This might mean Dhana is actually half-Cham. Many of the Cham people of Vietnam are Shaivite Hindus.
The character Ferris is partially based on Frederick Spencer Chapman, a British officer and explorer, who worked behind enemy lines in Malaya during WWII. He later wrote of his experiences in his book "The Jungle is Neutral".
The character of Dhana is based in part on the writer Han Suyin, an Eurasian physician who lived in Malaya during the Emergency. Her husband at the time, Leon F. Comber, was acting Assistant Commissioner of Police - Malayan Special Branch. Her works of fiction include "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" (later made into a movie starring William Holden) and "And the Rain My Drink" an autobiographical novel of her experiences in Malaya in the early 1950s.
The character of Dhana is based partly on Nona Baker, a British woman who spent WWII behind enemy lines with the MPAJA.
The character of Ferris is partially based on John Davis, a former SOE officer who worked with Chin Peng during the war. In 1955, he was sent by the government to bring Chin Peng out of the jungle and escort him to Baling for a peace conference.
The character of Ng is based on the actual chairman of the Malayan Communist Party, Chin Peng who survived the war and now lives in China.
The director, Lewis Gilbert, was the brother-in-law of actor Sydney Tafler, who played Tom, CPO.
The resettlement of the Chinese villagers depicted in the film was part of an ongoing program called the Briggs' Plan named after its developer General Sir Harold Briggs.