This film is sometimes mistakenly called a sequel to director William Girdler's previous film Grizzly (1976), mostly because it basically had the same plot and trained bear, had the same executive producer/distributor (Edward L. Montoro), director (William Girdler (as mentioned above)) and production company/distribution company (Film Ventures International (FVI)), and featured both Richard Jaeckel and Christopher George, who had also previously appeared in Grizzly. There was also a true sequel to Grizzly titled Grizzly II: The Predator (2020) (working title: "Grizzly II: The Predator"), but originally it was never entirely completed and thus was never released in theaters or on home video until January 8, 2021. Before this happened, however, an original work print of the sequel had illegally surfaced on the Internet in 2007.
Besides acting onscreen and being an animal trainer, Susan Backlinie also served as Lynda Day George's stunt double for this film.
The "grizzly bear" that Paul Jenson (Leslie Nielsen) fights in the film is actually a cinnamon bear ("Ursus americanus cinnamonum"), which is a subspecies - one of 16 that are traditionally recognized - of the American black bear ("Ursus americanus").