In 1946, Orson Welles decided to make a musical out of Around The World In Eighty Days. He wanted a circus on stage, traveling by a train running through the West. When the show cast ballooned to seventy, including four mechanical elephants, his original producer Mike Todd, pulled out.

Welles went to Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures for money. In exchange, Welles would put the play on Broadway, and direct a film at no fee. The problem was, Welles' wife Rita Hayworth had a long-standing hatred for Cohn, even though she was still employed by RKO.

In late Spring Welles moved to New York. Around The World In Eighty Days premiered on Broadway at the Adelphi Theatre on May 31st, 1946.

The film that Welles agreed to do in exchange for Cohn's help became The Lady From Shanghai.