MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.6
CFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -g -Os -pipe -no-cpp-precomp"
CCFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -g -Os -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -g -Os -pipe"
LDFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch x86_64 -bind_at_load"
export CFLAGS CXXFLAGS LDFLAGS CCFLAGS MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
Then the compilation should continue as below:
$ cd php-5.4.24/ext/mcrypt
$ phpize
$ ./configure # this is the step which fails without the above dependencies
$ make
$ make test
$ sudo make install
Thanks to http://stackoverflow.com/a/8432855