In the final scene, where the car nearly drives off the end of San Francisco's still-unfinished Embarcadero Freeway, the car was driven by stunt driver Guy Way. Way's wife was in the car with him; he had told her that he was just going to drive the car near the edge of the drop-off--which was about 100 feet--and then stop. What he didn't tell her was that he was actually supposed to accelerate to top speed then slam on the brakes in order to stop just inches from the precipice. Director Don Siegel in an interview recalled that when the shot was complete, Way's wife was so traumatized by the stunt that she had to be dragged from the car, kicking and screaming hysterically. The couple survived but it is not clear if their marriage did. In addition to the stunt, Way was briefly seen at the beginning of the film playing the cab driver who crashes on the Embarcadero.
Columbia Pictures hired Don Siegel, who had directed the pilot plus several episodes of The Lineup (1954), to direct the movie. Siegel wanted to throw out the police procedural parts of the story and concentrate entirely on the two hitmen, played by Eli Wallach and Robert Keith. Columbia, however, insisted that the characters from the TV show had to appear in it for two reasons: fans of the popular show would be the main audience for the movie and because, in accordance with the prevailing social mores, the police had to be seen investigating doggedly and ensuring that the criminals would be caught or otherwise made to pay for their crimes.
The meeting between Dancer and The Man (Vaughn Taylor) takes place at the Sutro Baths and Museum. Located on the cliffs of Lands End near the Golden Gate, the Sutro Baths were built in 1896 by Adolph G. Sutro, a wealthy entrepreneur and former San Francisco mayor. A popular family entertainment place for many decades, the Sutro Baths featured seven indoor swimming pools, the largest of which was 300 x 175 feet and held 2 million gallons of heated water. The swimming pools were built under a giant, domed glass ceiling (seen in exterior shots in the film). The complex featured a museum (as seen in the film) with various artifacts that Sutro had brought back from his travels. By the 1950s the Sutro Baths were struggling financially due to high operating costs, and in 1954 the largest swimming pool was turned into an ice rink (which features prominently in the film). The Sutro Baths pavilion burned down in 1966. Its ruins are still there and are a protected part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The final shootout was filmed on the Embarcadero (I-480) Freeway, which was under construction in 1958. The Embarcadero Freeway ran through San Francisco along the waterfront from Folsom Street to Broadway. It was heavily damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and had to be torn down.
Richard Jaeckel, Eli Wallach, and Robert Keith drive by the Nob Hill Theatre on California Street, which was located on the street level of the Fairmont Hotel; the marquee shows a double bill with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember (1957), and Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb in 12 Angry Men (1957). This popular program ran for six consecutive weeks, from the last week of September 1957 through the first week of November 1957, which establishes when the scene was filmed.