The Painted Desert selected Higgin to direct the film, as well as naming the stars of the film, William Boyd and Dorothy Burgess. Later in the month it was reported that Higgin would head to Arizona to begin location scouting for the film, accompanied by fellow director, Tay Garnett, however in August Higgin began scouting in the Arizona desert with the screenwriter, Tom Buckingham. It was announced that the film would employ over 300 extras. Higgin was familiar with the area, having working in and around Flagstaff, Arizona as a lumberjack prior to his entering the film industry. Towards the end of August
Lost in the Desert shot in two versions, one in Afrikaans and the other in English. The Afrikaans version appeared in 1969 under the title "Dirkie", and the English version appeared in either 1969 or 1970 (possibly varying according to country) under the title "Dirkie Lost in the Desert", which was sometimes referred to and marketed as "Lost in the Desert", which is possibly an alternative official title for the English version. The film was released on DVD in 2005 (copyright 1999), and this disc contains both versions of the film, selectable from the front menu. The English version is about 70 minutes long,