Though the outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Tanzania, the story took place in Kenya.
The film revealed that John Leeds' wife, Penelope Leeds, had died during the uprising of 1961. In the novel by William Stevenson, Penelope (who is referred to as "Penny") still lives, and so do Jackie's siblings who are all absent in the film.
Tembo (Louis Gossett, Jr.) refers to Jackie (Margaret Leclere) numerous times as "mtoto" which is Swahili for "child". Similarly, he and other characters refer to John Leeds (Donald Houston) and Professor "Cranky" Crankshaw as "bwana", a term meaning "lord" or "sir".
In the original novel by William Stevenson, Jackie's pet galago is named Kamau rather than Komba. Kamau was also the name of the real-life bushbaby that inspired Stevenson's work.
Jackie's family's surname in the novel is Rhodes, as opposed to Leeds.