The film features many historical characters, including Roman generals Fabius Maximus and Scipio Africanus who appears briefly, in addition to Hannibal.

Jupiter's Darling was based on Robert E. Sherwood's anti-war comedy play The Road to Rome (1927).

Horatio the Historian sings to beautiful women about the day that Fabius Maximus was crowned the dictator of Rome.

Varius and Meta dance and sing in a musical number, “If This Be Slavery,” and Fabius and his mother, Fabia, witness the chaotic aftermath.

The pair are filled with romantic tension; Hannibal sings to Amytis “Don’t Let This Night Get Away” about how they should be together tonight.

When the armies ready for a later attack at high noon, Hannibal dismisses this men again, rescheduling for dusk.

When Varius suddenly reappears and returns to his original position as Hannibal’s elephant keeper, he explains there are only two Roman legions left to defend the city.

She escapes them and safely arrives in Rome, joining Fabius but instead deciding to become a Vestal priestess rather than marry him.

Hannibal lays siege to Rome, and the two armies engage in combat, including the war elephants equipped with a battering ram to break the gates.

As they leave Rome together to return to Carthage, Hannibal reveals he has painted all of the elephants vibrant colors for Amytis.

It was bought by MGM in April 1933 who announced they would make a movie from the play, potentially as a star vehicle for Clark Gable.

[6] Rights appear to have lapsed because, in April 1939, MGM announced they had purchased the property again as a vehicle for Gable and Myrna Loy with Joseph L. Mankiewicz to produce.

[8] In January 1950, MGM announced that Charles Schnee had just completed a script for Clarence Brown to direct and that they hoped Kirk Douglas to star.

In January 1954, MGM announced they would turn the play into a musical called Jupiter's Darling starring Esther Williams and Howard Keel.

[11] In her memoirs, Williams said she had been on maternity leave for three months while pregnant with daughter Susan, and had assumed that she would get straight to work on the film Athena.

[3] Marge and Gower Champion joined the cast; Howard Keel signed a new long-term contract with MGM in April.

She was fitted with a prosthesis made from latex that covered her nose and ears that prevented water from rushing in.

[17] In one of the film's scenes, Amytis, while fleeing from Hannibal and his soldiers, rides a horse over the edges of a cliff on the Tiber River.

Dorothy Kingsley, who wrote the script, later said she wanted to do a musical version of Road to Rome: It was a satire and, in fact, we even had Hannibal's elephants painted pastel colors—orange and green.

[27] Box office reception was poor – according to MGM records, it made $1,493,000 in the US and Canada and $1,027,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $2,232,000.