A discussion came up with a friend of mine recently about this film, and I've mentioned this a couple of times on the board, but I thought I'd post these technical notes about the film here:

While the film was announced in post-production to be in "full-sepia monocolor," IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE was not sepia-toned. The reason U was planning to sepia-tone the film was purely technical and not aesthetic-- Columbia was doing the same with MAN IN THE DARK and SPOOKS!, as a method to try to get more light onto the screen (where Polaroid filters used for 3-D could cut down light by 1/3). Its documented in the daily minutes of the production meetings that executives at Universal sent some tech guys over to the local LA theaters to get a report on the sepia effect. The reports were negative and they promptly canned the idea. By this point, however, ads and some posters got out that list the film as being in sepia. These should be disregarded.

Also, while the film was exhibited in Universal's new 1.85:1 ratio wide-screen system in many venues, it was not composed for that ratio. Production was in February of 1953, when flat wide-screen was soon to come, but still just a gleam in a technician's eye.