Trivia
When Iris Hillaird (Sylvia Sidney) tells Nick Condon (James Cagney) that they cannot be together because she is half-Japanese and half-Caucasian, Condon replies that he too is of mixed race. "I'm half-Irish and half-Norwegian." In real life, James Cagney was the son of an Irish-born father and a Norwegian-born mother.
This film's opening prologue states: "While the entire world watched the early success of the German 'Mein Kampf', few were aware of the existence of an Oriental Hitler . . . Baron Giichi Tanaka. His plan of world conquest depended on secrecy for success. This story deals with its first exposure by an American newspaperman in Tokyo."
James Cagney has long being associated with the phrase "You dirty rat!". Though he actually said in the movie Taxi! (1932) "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat" and not "You dirty rat!", Cagney is heard saying "dirty rats" in this movie.
The DVD sleeve notes claim that this was one of the first American martial-arts movies. Though not a martial-arts movie by modern standards and definitions, judo is seen in the movie and with James Cagney performing it. Cagney insisted on doing his own stunts in the film.
The Tokyo Imperial Hotel bar seen at the start of the movie is apparently an exact replica of the actual bar situated in the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
According to the DVD sleeve notes, prior to production, James Cagney trained intensively in the martial-art of judo in preparation for his role in this movie. Cagney trained under Ken Kuniyuki who was a 5th Degree Judo Master and insisted he perform his own stunts in the movie. He said in his memoirs: "I grew so fond of judo I used to keep in shape with it until a back injury I picked up doing something else put me on the sidelines." Moreover, another instructor for Cagney was former LAPD policeman John Halloran who plays the role of Captain Oshima in the film and can be seen in the movie's closing fight sequence. Apparently, Halloran quit the police force after FBI agents investigated him because he was an expert in judo.
The movie is based on the history behind Japan's alleged Tanaka Plan which is aka the Tanaka Memorial document. This allegedly was Prime Minister Baron Tanaka Giichi's militarist strategic plan for world domination prepared for Emperor Hirohito.
In 1993, a computer-colorized version of this movie was made.
