Despite popular belief that gladiatorial matches ended in death, 90% of gladiators survived a given match. The rewards were so great for top gladiators that about one-third were volunteers.
The gladiatorial match between Priscus and Verus is the only individual combat in Roman history that was written about in detail by a contemporary observer, the poet Martial.
The Emperor Titus died six months after the opening of the Colosseum from a mysterious illness in the same farmhouse where his father Emperor Vespasian died. Titus was the first Emperor to succeed his father. He was succeeded by his brother Domitian.
According to the property master an entire warehouse of period Roman props was discovered during preproduction. Although some were in rough shape, they proved invaluable to the production. They were from a "James Mason movie" that had been shot fifteen years or seventeen years earlier. He was evidently referring to the miniseries "A.D." from 1985. Other Roman dramas that Mason appeared in were "The Fall of the Roman Empire" in 1964 and "Julius Caesar" in 1953.
The inaugural games of the Colosseum lasted 100 days.