The spinning wheel that put Aurora to sleep was not real, but a shadow of one. Technically, because of that, shouldn’t have activated the curse, due to its false properties.
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One of the film’s iconic scenes - when Briar Rose meets Prince Phillip for the first time to the tune of “Once Upon a Dream” - was called Sequence 8 when it was being produced. It was a particularly hard sequence to get right (Walt Disney rejected it several times) and ultimately had to be done 4 times, almost bankrupting the studio in the process.
Flora’s eyes change from blue to brown and back to blue during the movie, and this was not corrected for the DVD or Blu-ray release.
While preparing for Briar Rose’s birthday party, the three fairies lock the front door. When Briar Rose returns from picking berries, she opens the door easily.
Eleanor Audley - one of Walt Disney’s favorite voice artistes, most memorably as the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella (1950) - initially turned the part of Maleficent down, much to Disney’s surprise. As it later transpired, Audley was in the midst of battling a bout of tuberculosis and didn’t want to tax her voice too much. Fortunately, she changed her mind.
In the original fable, Princess Aurora is the result of a spell cast on the Queen by a magical fish that she had thrown back into a pond after it wound up lying on the bank.
Princess Aurora’s mother does not have a name in the movie, but in promotional materials she is named Queen Leah. Disney Studios have no record of who provided her voice.
At one point in the movie, we hear one of the characters announce that it is the 14th century. At a later point, we see fireworks being set off. Fireworks were not used for entertainment until the 16th century
At the scene where we hear someone shout about Princess Aurora’s return, and fireworks are shot up to the sky, we can notice that some of the fireworks’ sparks were seen in front of the castle’s towers, instead of being behind the castle, as if the fireworks flew up in a low altitude. Possibly the animator did not notice this, and therefore put the cels in the wrong places.
The prince is named after Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
When Aurora sees the green orb and begins walking toward it, she casts no reflection in the mirror beside her.
Walt Disney had toyed with the idea of his royal couple dancing in the clouds as a finale for both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Cinderella (1950). The concept finally got used in Sleeping Beauty (1959).
The tiara given to Aurora by the three fairies has no jewels, but later on, when Maleficent shows the fallen figure of Aurora to the fairies, the tiara has rubies in it.
Bill Shirley and Mary Costa auditioned together to ensure that their voices complemented each other.
During the song “Once Upon A Dream” in the forest, Briar Rose places her shawl and picnic basket on the log. When it goes back to the log, they both disappear.
At the time, the most expensive Disney animation. Although it was a hit on its initial release, it still didn’t gross enough to recoup its $6 million outlay.
The little-known second half of the original Sleeping Beauty fable involves the Prince’s attempts to protect Sleeping Beauty and their children from his mother who is an ogress. In the end, of course, she is thwarted and jumps into a pot of live serpents to avoid being killed by her own son.
