The Tyrannosaurus head from this movie was reportedly used to create Spot under the stairs of the Munster House on The Munsters (1964).
This was originally set to be an expensive sci-fi epic shot in color with a large cast and Jack Arnold directing. Arnold actually began pre-production work when Universal decided to slash the budget, shoot it in black-and-white instead of color and changed (and reduced) the cast, turning it from a big-budget "A" picture to a low-budget "B" picture. Arnold withdrew from the project and Universal assigned it to one of its contract directors, Virgil W. Vogel.
This story was allegedly inspired by the discovery, in 1947, of an area of inexplicably warm water in Antarctica.
The Navy Helicopter is a Sikorsky S-51.
The cover photo of Best Buy's "Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection - Volume 2" is adapted from Maggie's encounter with a man-eating squid-plant.