Stanley Kubrick was brought in as director after Kirk Douglas had a major falling out with the original director, Anthony Mann.


Kirk Douglas, as co-producer of the film with Bryna Productions, insisted on hiring "Hollywood Ten" blacklisted screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo to adapt the film. Douglas also hired blacklisted character actor, Peter Brocco, to play a supporting role.


Kubrick was not given control of the script, which he felt was full of stupid moralizing. Since this film, Kubrick has kept full control over all aspects of his films.


The sound of the crowd cheering "Spartacus! Spartacus!" was actually recorded at a football game in Spartan Stadium, home of the Michigan State University Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan.


Of the 167 days it took Kubrick to shoot Spartacus, six weeks were spent directing an elaborate battle sequence in which 8,500 extras dramatized the clash between the Roman troops and Spartacus' slave army. Several scenes in the battle drew the ire of the Legion of Decency and were therefore cut. These include shots of men being dismembered (dwarfs with false torsos and an armless man with a phony "break-away" limb were used to give authenticity). Seven years later, when the Oscar-winning film was reissued, an additional 22 minutes were chopped out, including a scene in which Varinia watches Spartacus writhe in agony on a cross. Her line "Oh, please die, my darling" was excised, and the scene was cut to make it appear that Spartacus was already dead.


The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis). When the Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected, the scene was cut. This scene was put back in for the 1991 restoration, but since the soundtrack had been lost, Curtis and Anthony Hopkins (Olivier had died) dubbed the dialogue.


The 1991 version was restored by Robert A. Harris who produced a new 65mm preservation negative from original color separations. The original camera negative had lost too much of its yellow layer to be usable.


A number of scenes featuring Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton were rewritten by Ustinov after Laughton rejected the original script.


Draba, played by Woody Strode, is killed in the ring after attacking one of the senators. His body is hung upside down in the gladiators' quarters as a warning. Originally this was going to be a replica of Strode, but when the effect wasn't satisfactory, Strode himself hung upside-down, ropes tied around his ankles. As the gladiators slowly file past his dangling body, Strode doesn't flinch or twitch. According to Strode's son Kalai, the unused replica hung inside the entrance to Universal Studio's prop room for several years.


Kirk Douglas, a passionate Zionist, wanted the history depicted to parallel the story of the Jewish people, but screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was more interested in Communist themes.


Ingrid Bergman, Jeanne Moreau, Elsa Martinelli, and Jean Simmons rejected the role of Varinia. Sabine Bethmann was then cast, but when Kubrick arrived he fired her and reoffered the part to Simmons, who took it.


The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. At one point Geoffrey Shurlock, representing the censors, suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes. In the end the scene was cut, but it was was put back in for the 1991 restoration. But since the soundtrack had been lost in the meantime, the dialogue had to be dubbed; and since Olivier had died, Anthony Hopkins read his lines.

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