When one of Major Nagai's men shoots a prisoner, the prisoner falls of the steps and the radio he was carrying falls in front of him as he falls dead. When Nagai and the man walk up the steps into the guard house, the radio is behind the body and right next to the steps.
In the film the plane that flies over the camp to distract the guards is a Lockheed Hudson. In reality the plane used was a P-61 Black Widow. However, there are only five P-61s still in existence, none of which are airworthy. Therefore the filmmakers were forced to make the substitution.
Gen. Walter Kreuger, commander of the Luzon invasion force, who is depicted in two scenes of the film, was a German immigrant (he was born in West Prussia) who spoke with a distinct German accent.
The film shows only American POWs in the camp. Upon the rescue there were also British and Dutch soldiers, and foreign civilians, interned at the camp who were also rescued.
In the opening documentary, the voice-over speaks of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. At that moment the viewer doesn't see Japanese airplanes attacking, but US Dauntless dive-bombers. This is because the footage is from John Ford's 'December 7th' wartime documentary film. The Dauntlesses appeared as a substitute for the actual Japanese bombers because, since it was actually shot during the Second World War, no real 'Zeros', 'Vals' or 'Kates', the actual Japanese aircraft that participated in the real attack were available to the filmmakers.
The exact same background shot of a Ventura bomber followed by two single-engine planes flying left to right is used three times during the film, twice at the beginning as they are planning the mission on the beach and then once at the end when the raid is over.
In the film, Lt. Col. Mucci wears the 'second-pattern' herringbone-twill (HBT) fatigue uniform during all of his scenes. The 'second-pattern', also the most common style of all of the U.S. Army HBT uniforms, can be differentiated from other versions via the large chest pockets stretching all the way to the waist, designed to hold boxes of 'K-rations'. However, in historical photographs of Mucci, he wears the older 'first-pattern' uniform, which in turn can be identified due to its much smaller, pleated chest pockets.
The terrain in outdoor scenes consists of grassy areas with trees common in North America (e.g. Oak, Pine), not native tropical terrains and trees (e.g. rice fields, Banana, Mango) common to the Philippines. Needle bearing trees are not seen in the Cabanatuan region of the Philippines.
Colonel Mucci states "The plane will buzz the camp at 1800, Lt. Reilly will fire the first shot at 1930 and Capt Pajota will blow the bridge at 1945..." The Filipino setting the explosives under the bridge at 1800, when the plane flies over, sets the timer for 2 hours.
The beach where the Americans landed is written as "Calasio". There is no place in the Philippines with that name. The correct place is "Calasiao" (in the Province of Pangasinan). Also, the front line where the prisoners were brought safely to is not "Talevera". Again, there is no place in the Philippines with that name. The correct name of the place is "Talavera".