Born in Chicago, Victor Young studied violin at the Warsaw conservatory and was a concert violinist before moving to Hollywood in the 1930s. Around The World in 80 Days was almost his last film score: he won his only Oscar for it, and died the same year.

The film is famous for about 40 cameo appearances by stars of the day, including Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, Noel Coward, Ronald Colman, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, and Buster Keaton. Looking out for these faces makes the 3 hours of the movie pass more quickly.