Mike Connors has said that he performed the stunt where he hangs from a rope attached to a helicopter flying around the Christ the Redeemer Statue because a local Brazilian stuntman refused to do it.
The movie has a plot that is considered highly similar to the James Bond film Moonraker (1979) which was made thirteen years later.
Shot before Mike Connors landed his most famous role headlining the series Mannix (1967). Connors played that part for 8 years.
This film was rushed into release in the USA in January 1967 so as to beat the much bigger studio James Bond parody Casino Royale (1967) which was launched in April of that same year. Principal photography of the film was actually shot whilst the official James Bond movie You Only Live Twice (1967) was in pre-production with the intention of beating that picture to the screen as well but Casino Royale (1967) was more of a threat as it was also a Bond spoof.
The film is directed by Henry Levin and Dino Maiuri. American prints only credit Levin whilst foreign prints credit both.