Visible crew/equipment: The scene where Martin and Ethan watch the Cavalry ride in through the river, a car or truck is seen driving up a road to the right and comes to a stop.
Continuity mistake: When Moses leads the Hebrews from Egypt, he pauses before them to deliver a little speech before they head out into the desert. He faces the camera and lifts his staff up with his left hand. But on the cutaway shot from behind, he is holding the staff in his right hand.
Revealing mistake: In the scene out West with the buffalo, notice the car driving in the distant background.
Continuity mistake: When they are dancing the king's earring is on his left ear then it somehow jumps across to the other ear.
Visible crew/equipment: When James Stewart tells Doris Day that he lied about the telephone call being from the hotel, Doris gets excited and James struggles with her on the bed. During that scene, you can see on the upper left corner a shadow of a microphone.
Continuity mistake: In the final shot, just as the credits are rolling, the British warships are sailing away with the sun setting behind them. In an earlier scene the radio commentator says that the sun is setting and a shot of the sun touching the surface of the sea is shown.
Continuity mistake: When Ishmael is in bed watching Queequeg looking around his room, his head rotates between shots.
Factual error: The opening scene of the movie shows William Pittenger receiving the first ever Congressional Medal of Honor, but in fact he was the fifth recipient.
Continuity mistake: When Robert Wagner falls, halfway up the mountain, Spencer Tracy's rope, which is attached to Wagner, runs through his hands, making them bleed, but, finally, he gets a grip and he pulls Wagner up. As we see Tracy's rope, as it slowly comes up, but there is no blood on it.
Continuity mistake: When the Tartar princess Bortai is first shown, and throughout the first part of the scene when John Wayne and Pedro Armendáriz ride to check her out, she lies in a litter shrouded in shadows or perfectly lit, depending on the shot. (00:03:40)