When Gunar (Dolph Lundgren) shoots the recoilless rifle at the enemy camp he says: "Spring, era jävlar!" which is Swedish for: "Run, you bastards!". This exclamation has become a cult classic line in Sweden.
Shot in Thailand between September and December of 1993; production officially ended in January 1994. Following excellent test screenings, Miramax bought it from another company with a promise of theatrical release, but then dumped it on video because it thought that Dolph Lundgren couldn't bring the audience if he was main hero in the film. It was shelved until December of 1995 when it was released on video in the US, although it was released earlier in some other countries (e.g., France (in July 1995) where it wasn't a great financial success but got great reviews from critics. John Sayles, who wrote the original script (before it was partially re-written to add more action and humor), also said some years later how it was a very good action movie and some of Lundgren's best work.
The main character's name was Nick Riley originally; it was changed to Nick Gunar to fit Dolph Lundgren and make him Swedish (the first time the actor played a Swede in his career).
Sony Pictures was originally planning to release the film through its TriStar Pictures label, but Harvey Weinstein heard about the film and purchased the distribution rights with the promise that the film would receive a wide theatrical birth through Miramax's Dimension Films brand. Like many films purchased by Weinstein, it sat on the shelf for over a year and was eventually dumped straight to video.
When the mercenaries first storm the jungle island, music that is startlingly similar to the score from Depredador (1987) plays.