At the end of the event, Hillevi Rombin of Sweden crowned Carol Morris of the United States as Miss Universe 1956.

[6] Edith Noble Nakpil was replaced by Isabel Escobar Rodriguez as the representative of the Philippines due to undisclosed reasons.

[7] This edition saw the debuts of British Guiana, the Dominican Republic, Holland, and Iceland,[8] and the returns of Turkey and Peru, who last competed in 1953 and 1954, respectively.

Ceylon, El Salvador, Finland, Honduras, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Norway, South Korea, and the West Indies withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or designate a contestant.

Each of the fifteen semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast using their native languages.