Warner Bros. purchased the rights to Maritta Wolff's novel "Night Shift" in 1942 for $25,000, with the original intention of casting Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart in the film adaptation. Working titles for the film were "Night Shift" and "Why Was I Born?", the latter a 1929 song by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II which featured in the movie. Production fell behind schedule because Lupino was suffering from exhaustion – she fainted during one scene with Robert Alda and had to be cut out of her tight-fitting dress – finishing 19 days late and $100,000 over budget.