Based on true events, the film attempts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson in 1926 and the court case that followed her safe return after she was missing for four weeks.

In her memoir This 'n That (1987, Berkley Pub Group), Bette Davis recounted several anecdotes about working on The Disappearance of Aimee.

Davis stated that Dunaway would show up hours late, not knowing her lines, and being generally difficult.

For one of the scenes in the un-air-conditioned tabernacle, over 1800 unpaid extras (locals who had been promised a box lunch and a chance to be in a movie) were left for hours awaiting Dunaway's arrival.

Appropriately, Dunaway would go on to portray Davis’s heyday peer and rival, Joan Crawford, in the 1981 cult classic film Mommie Dearest.