According to an interview on The Howard Stern Radio Show (1998), Bobcat Goldthwait negotiated a deal to return for $600,000. Goldthwait then told producers they should pay Tim Kazurinsky the same amount. The request was successful.
Bobcat Goldthwait said in an interview that he was considered a difficult actor on set. He had made a suggestion to the filmmakers that the villains in the final chase scene should be the same ones who appeared earlier in the movie. Bobcat was told to just say his lines, and that they were not paying him to write. Goldthwait later remarked, "I was almost thrown out of the academy for trying to introduce plots!"
The Japanese character Nogata was originally written as a male Indian police cadet named Ramu. This explains why Nogata slept on a bed of nails from New Delhi, and also liked to meditate with his hand over a candle flame.
(At around one hour and twelve minutes) For Jones' "periscope" scene, a cable mechanism set up on shore was used to pull Michael Winslow and his jet ski underwater.
Jerry Paris and Leslie Easterbrook had an affair while making this movie. Jerry died ten days after the film's American release.