The picture was directed by Richard Thorpe (who replaced the original director, Curtis Bernhardt) and produced by Joe Pasternak. The screenplay was by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig and was based on the operetta "The Student Prince" by Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Donnelly which was in turn based on the 1901 play "Old Heidelberg" by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster. New scenes and rewritten dialogue not found in the stage production were also added, although the basic plot remained the same. Additional songs were specially written by Nicholas Brodszky and Paul Francis Webster. Many of Ms. Donnelly's original stage lyrics were completely changed for the film. Owing to the story's popularity it has been turned into films on numerous occasions, including the American silent film "Old Heidelberg" (1915), the German silent film "Old Heidelberg" (1923), Ernst Lubitsch's "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" (1927), and Ernst Marischka's "Old Heidelberg" (1959).