Because Sander Vanocur plays himself as a news anchor in this film, a few complaints were received from people who believed the movie events were real, despite repeated on screen narration and text before the start of each act. Following that, CNN issued an order that its reporters and anchors would not be allowed to play themselves or any other role in a fictional movie.
This TV movie originally aired on October 30th, 1994. This is the anniversary of the radio broadcast of Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds," which was the inspiration for this movie, as cited in the on-air introduction to the movie on CBS. "War of the Worlds" originally aired on October 30th, 1938.
Early in the film, the town "Grover's Mill," Wyoming is mentioned. "Grover's Mill," New Jersey was the landing site of the first cylinder in Orson Welles' radio broadcast "War of the Worlds," which was an inspiration for this movie.
Air Force tracking officer Major Powers might be a reference to John Powers, an Air Force officer who became a NASA public affairs officer during Project Mercury between 1959 and 1963.
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