 Sources at the time put the estimated production costs at $3.85 million, making it the second most expensive film made up to that point, with only "Ben-Hur" (1925) having cost more.Although legend persists that the Hays Office fined Selznick $5,000 for using the word "damn" in Butler's exit line, in fact the Motion Picture Association board passed an amendment to the Production Code on November 1, 1939, that forbade use of the words "hell" or "damn" except when their use "shall be essential and required for portrayal, in proper historical context, of any scene or dialogue based upon historical fact or folklore ... or a quotation from a literary work, provided that no such use shall be permitted which is intrinsically objectionable or offends good taste".With that amendment, the Production Code Administration had no further objection to Rhett's closing line.