Laurence Harvey had planned to make a film about the charge, even to the extent of bidding for the original Light Brigade bugle when it appeared for auction in 1964. As part of a settlement with Woodfall Films, he was cast as a Russian prince in the film but his part was cut out completely. He can, however, briefly be seen in the theatre audience sitting near Trevor Howard as the crowd shouts out, "Black bottle."
Tony Richardson was a notoriously difficult director. At one stage he wanted the Guardsmen at the Battle of the Alma to wear blue tunics, which he thought would look better on screen than the authentic scarlet. He only relented when his military/historical adviser, Boris Mollo, threatened to resign.
Unusual lenses and lighting effects were used throughout the film to give it the feel of Daguerreotype and other older photographic processes, thereby giving the movie more of a feeling for the time.