One of the sources for the film was the novel "The Night Watch" by Thomas Walsh, which was serialized under the title "The Killer Wore a Badge", in the Saturday Evening Post from November 10 to December 15, 1951.
Kim Novak's first major film role and receives an 'and introducing" credit. She was only twenty-one years old in this performance. Her character, Lola, spoke as if she had a lot more life experience. Novak had two uncredited films at RKO before working on this film - The French Line (1953) and Son of Sinbad (1955).
Philip Carey starred in the movie advertised on the theater marquee, The Nebraskan (1953), also released by Columbia.
The $210,000 stolen from the bank would equate to over $2.4M in 2024.
The film opens with an establishing shot showing a freeway with the Los Angeles City Hall in the background. This same footage is also used as an opening establishing shot in several Perry Mason (1957) episodes.