David O. Selznick bought the rights to Margaret Mitchell's novel in 1936 for $50,000, a month after publication, and then spent two years casting its two leads. He wanted Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, but Gable was under contract to MGM, so Selznick struck a deal with MGM chief Louis B. Mayer that gave the studio distribution and half the profits. For Scarlett, Selznick ran a nationwide casting call that interviewed 1,400 unknowns and tested about thirty actresses, and some frontrunners were ruled out for reasons ranging from age to a marriage controversy. Vivien Leigh, a little-known English actress, was cast in January 1939 after Selznick saw her in films and a series of screen tests.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.