Leslie Nielsen turned down an offer to return as Dr. Rumack on account of his commitment to the comedy series Police Squad! (1982), created by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, the creative team behind the original Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? (1980). His character only appears in flashback sequences from the original movie and was replaced by the character Dr. Stone, portrayed by John Vernon.
At a pre-screening of this movie, the audience was given 3-D glasses as they entered the theater. After several minutes into the "blurry" film, distorted by the 3-D glasses everyone donned, the pre-screeners realized the film was not in 3-D. The audience had been duped, but it was unclear by whom. (Cincinnati, 1982)
The Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker writing and directing trio (Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams) claim (on the Blu-ray audio commentary of Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? (1980)) never to have seen this movie. They initially agreed to a sequel, and then balked at the idea at a later date. The movie went ahead without their permission, and despite their protests - thus, they refused to watch a single frame of it upon its release - and still have not over 40 years later.
At one point, William Shatner looks into a periscope and sees the USS Enterprise from Star Trek (1966). This is the only time the original television version of the Enterprise appeared on the big screen. For the theatrical movies, it had been heavily modified.
Robert Stack was also asked to reprise his role as Rex Kramer from the original Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? (1980) but he declined ultimately because he felt the script was a basic retread of the first movie.
Art Fleming: The first host of the game show Jeopardy!, cameos as himself in a special "lunar shuttle version" of the show, although he is only credited as the "Jeopardy! host."