[2][3] Every year the Chincoteague fire department rounds up the wild ponies of Assateague Island and holds an auction to thin out the herd.

[3] Some of the colts and yearlings are then sold at auction as a means of thinning out the herd, and as a benefit for the local Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department.

[2] Using local people from the town in most of the roles, the film stars only six professional actors, including Arthur O'Connell, Anne Seymour, Pam Smith, and future Hollywood executive David Ladd.

[8] The film's cinematography was by Lee Garmes and Leo Tover, and the music by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter.

[7] At the premier showing of the movie on Chincoteague in 1961, the real Misty was led down Main Street, and her front hoof prints were impressed into cement in front of the Island Theatre (now managed by the Chincoteague Island Arts Organization), where the impressions of her hooves can still be seen as of 2023.

[2] Both the book and the movie brought widespread publicity to Chincoteague and Assateague, and to the local culture, traditions, and natural beauty and wildlife on the remote and isolated barrier islands of the United States' eastern coast.