According to director Carroll Ballard, the budget was so small that the film had to be shot in only 10 days.
Maurice Sendak includes an homage to his favorite composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. During Clara's dream, the furniture around her seems to grow and an enormous bust of Mozart peering down at her from atop a cabinet. The music also briefly changesto Tchaikovsky's music from another opera he wrote, the Duet of Daphnis and Chloe from The Queen of Spades.
A monster from Maurice Sendak's book "Where the Wild Things Are" can be seen peeking over the horizon during the boat ride at the start of the second act.
The film's soundtrack album title is the same as the movie posters, "Nutcracker: The Motion Picture." However in the film's credits the full title is "Pacific Northwest Ballet's 'Nutcracker.'" Neither title appears on screen during the film.