About 90 members of OutRage, a British gay political action group, took part in the riot scene.
The film very much abridges the end of Marlowe's play: Prince Edward is shown dancing on top of a cage with Isabella and Mortimer inside it. In real life, after his father's death Edward III had his mother and her lover arrested, executing Mortimer (in Marlowe's play this happens instantly, whereas historically the king waited four years).
In the first scene between the Queen and Mortimer, Tilda Swinton carries an Hermes bag that, at £3,900, was more valuable than the cost of the set she was standing on.
With a budget of £750,000, this was the most expensive of Derek Jarman's movies.