Revealing mistake: To save money during the beach picnic scene, Welles used stock footage from King Kong (1933) for the jungle background. You can quite clearly see pterodactyls flying in the background (confirmed on DVD commentary).
Revealing mistake: In the final scene where Miss O'Shaughnessy is in the elevator with the detective, the door closes and the elevator starts to 'descend', indicated by dark glass going down, supposedly because the lighted elevator is passing beyond the view of the exterior door. But if you look, you can still see the silhouette of Miss O'Shaughnessy behind the glass, not moving. It is just a piece of wood or something being lowered behind the glass to simulate the elevator going down.