Hawks had little interest in remaking his own earlier movie, and only came to work on it because of the $250,000 paycheck. When speaking of the film, he said "Danny Kaye had separated from his wife, and he was a basket case, stopping work to see a psychiatrist [every] day.
Hawks was uninterested in revisiting his earlier movie but took on the project due to the substantial payment. In describing the film, he mentioned that Danny Kaye had divorced his wife and needed frequent therapy sessions.