Following the completion of this film, Josephine Baker took a 10-year hiatus from the motion picture industry. The outbreak of World War II and Baker's role as a spy for the French Resistance accounted for nearly half of the break.
Parts of the film were shot on location in Tunisia, including several street scenes of Tunis during the 1930s and the Roman ruins of Dougga.
The film failed to receive the Production Code Administration's Seal of Approval due to the insinuation of an interracial relationship. As a result, most mainstream theaters in the United States failed to show to film. Some independent cinemas screened the film without the PCA's approval and it became a mainstay in cinemas catering to predominantly-black audiences throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
The popular European singing group, Comedian Harmonists, performed during the large musical production toward the end of the film. The group, of German origin, was disbanded by the Nazis quite soon after working on this picture because three of the members were Jewish.
An advertising poster for this film is pictured on one stamp of a set of five 42¢ USA commemorative postage stamps honoring Vintage Black Cinema, issued 16 July 2008. Other films honored in this set are Black and Tan (1929), The Sport of the Gods (1921), Caldonia (1945), and Hallelujah (1929).