The decision to paint Dietrich's legs gold was a last resort. Initially, they had made fine mesh "tights" for her, like chain-mail. It took several hours to close the links up the back using jeweler's pliers. However, after she was encased in the mesh, it was discovered she couldn't move, so they undid the tights and resorted to gold paint.
An additional dance sequence was cut from the film; it later showed up in the Abbott and Costello comedy Lost in a Harem (1944).
The August 23,1944 New York Times MGM Kismet movie review included the following: "James Craig is a personable Caliph and perfectly acceptable in that role with the minor exception of his rich Southern accent, which, indeed, prompted one spectator to refer to him as Caliph 'of Baghdad on the Swannee' ".
It was during this film that Dietrich began wearing her now-famous but then-little known 'foundation', a flesh colored nylon body stocking from neck to crotch. Once poured and zipped into it, it re-created the shape that she had become famous for in her youth, but which had now begun to sag as she faced her mid-forties. She continued to wear it for all public and professional appearances for the rest of her life.
Life Magazine reported that Marlene Dietrich had her legs painted with four coats of gold paint, and her hair sprinkled with powdered gold for her exotic dance number.