Coleco is credited with creating a Colecovision follow-up, but they backed out after a silver horse was buried somewhere in Oregon. According to Renan, the horse is still there, probably being broken down by the elements, since a puzzle to find it was never written.
Cinemataographer Hilyard John Brown came up with the idea to do a film with an actual buried treasure for viewers to find. He opted out of working on the film because director Sheldon Renan wanted a lot of helicopter shooting, and Brown had had too many close calls in helicopters.
Viewers of the film were given the opportunity to win a 24 karat gold horse statue and $500,000 for solving the puzzzle; however, no one solved the puzzle by the deadline and the money and horse were given to Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
The book and film were written at the same time, but Amanda was not yet named when the film was shot, so she is known only as "the Girl" in the film.
John Melanson was cast because he is a blacksmith in real life; however, he also played (without credit) the man in black gloves.