In order to avoid sharing creative rights, George Lucas decided to avoid using a major studio to finance this movie. Instead, he bankrolled the $30 million production himself, using a combination of his profits from La guerra de las galaxias (1977) and a bank loan. Although the move was risky, it paid off several times over. Lucas recovered his investment within three months of the movie's release. He then showed gratitude far beyond the Hollywood norm by sharing the profits with his employees (nearly $5 million in bonuses).
The shots where Luke uses his Jedi powers to retrieve his lightsaber from a distance were achieved by having Mark Hamill throw the lightsaber away, and then running the film in reverse.
George Lucas was so impressed by Frank Oz's performance as Yoda that he spent thousands of dollars on an advertising campaign to try and get him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Lucas' campaign ultimately failed because it was felt that a puppeteer wasn't an actor. Lucas felt this wasn't fair to Oz, who honestly didn't care.
During the filming of the Battle of Hoth, the Echo Base troops were actually Norwegian mountain-rescue skiers. In exchange for participation in this movie, Lucasfilm made a donation to the Norwegian Red Cross.
Mark Hamill had to bang his head sixteen times on the ceiling of Yoda's hut before director Irvin Kershner was satisfied with the scene.
Joe Johnston: The director of movies Rocketeer: El hombre cohete (1991), Parque jurásico III (2001), Capitán América: El primer vengador (2011), and El cascanueces y los cuatro reinos (2018) worked on visual and art effects for this movie. He has a cameo as a Rebel in Echo Base before the Rebels evacuate.