The original script was much more faithful to the original Agatha Christie novel with the setting on an island and the original grim conclusion of the book. However, producer Harry Alan Towers changed it at the last second when he realized that it would be cheaper to shoot in the African outback and that the novel's ending is less marketable than Christie's happier resolution from the play version of the story.
Herbert Lom receives higher billing in this film for playing a smaller role (The General) than he does in the previous remake playing the Doctor.
Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Ronald Lacey, Peter Cushing, Robert Vaughn, and Oliver Reed were all offered roles in this adaptation but declined.
A little known 1930 play by Owen Davis entitled The Ninth Guest utilized a similar framework of people being brought together by an unknown host who proceeds to kill them one by one. Columbia Pictures' atmospheric film version of The Ninth Guest (1934) has never been released on home video, but is now in the public domain and can be found on eBay and iOffer.
Frank Stallone replaced Christopher Reeve for budgetary reasons.