The paintings that appear throughout the movie were painted by Takeshi Kitano himself after his near-fatal motorcycle accident in August 1994.
The Japanese title translates into 'Fireworks", but if you look further into the basis of the Japanese character for 'fireworks', you will see that it is composed of two smaller words - 'fire' and 'flower'. And like the linguistic basis of the title, the story and style of "Hana-Bi" is the synthesis of two opposing images, one being an agent of destruction, and the other a symbol of birth and renewal.
Girl playing with kite, featured in the final scenes of the film is Takeshi Kitano's real-life daughter, Shoko Kitano.
Became the first Japanese film to be released in Korea since the end of World War II (1945). However, box office performance was worse than expected with only 37,771 tickets sold.
The man who sold the taxi cab had a "Cactus Jack" t-shirt on. Mick Foley wrestled in the 1990's as Cactus Jack in the International Wrestling Association of Japan.