Le tournage s'est déroulé du 12 septembre au 16 novembre 1949 à Saint-Cyr-l'École, dans la vallée de Chevreuse, et à Paris, notamment Place des Vosges lorsque Orphée cherche à rattraper la princesse qui apparaît et disparaît entre les arcades.
À noter, les apparitions des réalisateurs Jean-Pierre Melville en directeur de l'hôtel et Jean-Pierre Mocky en acolyte, assis à côté du chef de bande debout à la terrasse du bar.
Jean Cocteau s'est livré dix ans plus tard à une nouvelle interprétation du mythe, dans le film le Testament d'Orphée,(1960) où il ajoute des considérations sur l'interférence des médias et du monde de l'art.
The opening credits were drawn by Jean Cocteau himself.
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Orphee's obsession with deciphering hidden messages contained in random radio noise is a direct nod to the coded messages that the BBC concealed in their wartime transmissions for the French Resistance.
For the scene in which Orphee passes his hand through a glass pane, Cocteau used a vat of mercury to create the effect.
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The part of Orphee was played by Cocteau's former lover Jean Marais, while the part of Cegeste was played by his then current lover, Edouard Dermithe.
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The opening scenes set in the Cafe des Poetes were originally set to be filmed with regular extras. However, Cocteau found them to be too self-conscious and artificial so they were all dismissed. Instead, real bohemians from Paris' real café culture were drafted in. These proved to be so natural and relaxed with the café setting, they actually stayed on for two extra days after filming had finished, just hanging out in the cafés that the film crew had been using.
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Both Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo were approached about playing the mysterious Princess. Both declined.
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Cocteau was 60 years old when filming commenced.
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During the making of this film, Cocteau was granted the Legion d'Honneur, one of France's highest citizen honors.
Jean-Pierre Aumont and Gerard Philippe were considered for the part of Orphee.
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Most of the underworld scenes were shot in the blitzed ruins of the St. Cyr military academy.
