The film was produced by Michael Todd, marking his first role as a producer. It was directed by Michael Anderson, who had previously directed acclaimed films such as The Dam Busters.

The movie was simultaneously filmed in the then new widescreen process known as Todd AO, which gave it a grand and epic scale.

Because Todd AO originally operated at 30 frames per second, which was incompatible with standard 24 fps film prints, the production was actually filmed twice to create both the widescreen version and the standard 35 mm release print.

Filming took place over 75 actual shooting days. The production used 112 locations across 13 countries, along with 140 sets.

The cost was just under $6 million, an enormous budget for that era.

After editing and reduction, the final film length was slightly more than 25,700 feet of film, cut down from an initial 680,000 feet that had been shot.

There were nearly 69,000 extras in the film, one of the largest numbers of extras ever used in a single production. The film also incorporated thousands of animals, including sheep, buffalo, donkeys, horses, monkeys, bulls, elephants, skunks, ostriches, and more.

The film featured dozens of cameo appearances by major stars of the time to add extra glamour and scale. This movie is widely credited with helping to popularize the concept of cameos in major motion pictures.

Among the cameos, Frank Sinatra appears as a piano player in a saloon.

The iconic hot air balloon sequence, often the scene people remember most from Around the World in 80 Days, was not in the original novel by Jules Verne. It was added specifically for the 1956 film adaptation. The balloon scene was created partly to showcase the widescreen Todd AO format, giving audiences a vivid and panoramic aerial sequence.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the highest honor in filmmaking. In addition to Best Picture, it also received Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Music.

The supposed American ship shown midway through the film was in fact a real Japanese training barque named Kaiwo Maru.

Some scenes, including a sequence featuring a train passing through a tunnel, used a papier mache tunnel constructed on set. After filming, the tunnel was pushed into a gorge to destroy it.