The film boasted a screenplay by Raymond Chandler. As was his usual practice, Hitchcock shot each scene so that there was only one way to edit it, which always conformed to his initial visual concept and pre-production storyboards. According to Farley Granger, Hitchcock, who worked all his shots out in great detail on paper before shooting, often looked unhappy on the set. When Granger asked him if something was wrong, Hitchcock complained, "Oh, I'm so bored!"

Kasey Rogers noted that she had perfect vision at the time the movie was made, but Hitchcock insisted she wear the character's thick eyeglasses, even in long shots when regular glass lenses would have been undetectable. Rogers was effectively blind with the glasses on, and needed to be guided by the other actors and actresses. In one scene, she can be seen dragging her hand along a table as she walks. This was in order for her to keep track of where she was.