Some may notice that the Le Havre setting, while realistic, seems to have a slightly strange perspective. This is because the streets were constructed with a "false perspective" technique: the buildings were gradually scaled down in size the farther they go into the background; when shot with the proper camera lens, such a street will seem to stretch away from the camera up to four times longer than it actually does.

The film is supposed to be set in the French port of Le Havre, but the streets were actually all built on a sound stage.

To make the film more relevant to a late 1930s audience, writer Jacques Prevert updated the period of the original book, which was the World War One year of 1914, to the pre World War II year of 1938.

New Wave auteur Eric Rohmer cited seeing this film, at the age of 18, as what made him want to eventually become a filmmaker .

An early example of part of a film being shown to the public in advance of its release: In May 1938, before Port of Shadows had finished shooting, the French Cinematheque showed an excerpt from the footage in progress.