When Professor Blake calls Madagascar he speaks to Dr Moreau, a reference to the H.G. Wells novel, "The Island of Doctor Moreau".
Prof. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz) has a collection of facial reconstructions depicting the ascent of man from the early hominids to modern man (or woman in this case, actress Joanna Moore). One of them is that of The Piltdown Man, whose "discovery" in 1912 was exposed as a hoax in 1953, five years before this movie was released.
Arthur Franz only played Prof. Donald Blake. Once the makeup transformation scenes were over, stuntman Eddie Parker did every scene as the Monster.
Early in the movie when driving in the neighborhood, you can see the left side of the Munsters home
All the principal vehicles are 1957-1958 Chrysler Corporation cars; Madeline Howard (Joanna Moore) drives a 1958 DeSoto convertible.