The movie was shot in 1985, and sat on the shelf for nearly five years.
The aircraft used in the movie was a modified Lazair Ultralight. It did not actually fly, as it had no engine and was made of fibreglass. The airplane was fitted with a small electric motor to turn the propellor, when filming on the ground. With the help of a crane, the mock airplane was lifted and slowly swung around with the actors inside, for its scenes in the film, and the footage then sped up in post-production. An identical, but small scale radio operated model airplane was used for long shots. The full scale version would later be displayed suspended from the ceiling of Stringfellows, an aviation-themed restaurant in Bloemfontein, South Africa, part-owned by producer Boet Troskie. The airplane was later seen on display in Mimosa Mall, site of Troskie's Mimosa Films offices. Meanwhile, the radio controlled model plane would be seen hanging on display in a hobbyshop in Cresta, a suburb of Randburg, near the border of Johannesburg.
Producer Boet Troskie considered this film and Les dieux sont tombés sur la tête (1980) as the only true films in the series, while labeling all subsequent knock-offs without his and Jamie Uys's involvement "ungodly fakes".
The scene with Xiri being run over by the truck was done using blue screen work by the child actor. A studio shot of Eiros falling to the ground was chroma keyed over a ground level shot of the truck passing over the camera lens.
The picture was nominated for Worst Picture at the Hastings Bad Cinema Society's 12th Stinkers Bad Movie Awards in 1989.