"The Quiet American" began filming in Saigon on January 28, 1957, then moved to Rome, where shooting finished in late April 1957. It was the first time a feature film was shot in Vietnam. The crew had some difficulty filming there — they had to avoid shooting at noon because of the harsh shadows, they had trouble receiving permission to shoot inside a Buddhist temple because of the moon's phase, and they inadvertently helped a political protest take place that would otherwise have been shut down by the police, because the authorities assumed it had been staged for the film. Audie Murphy fell ill with appendicitis during a weekend shopping trip to Hong Kong and had to undergo an operation.