The appearance of Bruce Willis in a minor role is a subtle nod to an old marketing trick often employed by Grindhouse makers. They would contract a big-name movie star to appear in their movie for one day, for a few frontal shots only, while the rest of the scenes were done with a double filmed from the back. A picture of the big star would then be placed prominently on the movie's poster in order to boost sales. (Example: Bruce Willis' character of Lieutenant Muldoon is never in the same frame with the other actors, indicating that all of his scenes were filmed separately.) Ironically, many of Willis's later appearances in films (especially during the 2020s), such as Corrective Measures (2022) were authentic versions of this, where Willis essentially played a small part in limited scenes but was billed prominently for marketing purposes.
Skip Reissig, who plays strip-club owner Skip, isn't an actor but is actually Robert Rodriguez's real-estate agent. Rodriguez thought he'd be perfect for the part of the brusque, no-nonsense, tough-talking strip-club owner because, as Rodriguez says, "That's the way he really is."
Robert Rodriguez specifically wrote the part of Dakota for Marley Shelton after working with her on Sin City (2005).
Although the ads and reviews for the film made it clear that it was a compilation of two films interspersed with fake trailers, some fans still got up and left after "Planet Terror" finished because they thought the movie was over. Most movie houses ended up putting up signs outside theatres playing the movie reiterating that "Death Proof" followed "Planet Terror" and the fake trailers were an intermission rather than the extra end of the film.
Felix Sabates, who plays Dr. Felix, is a real doctor and is Robert Rodriguez's personal physician. He was also owner of the white 1970 Challenger used in Death Proof.
Zoë Bell: as a zombie feasting on a paramedic. She appears in both Boulevard de la mort (2007) and this film, and is one of the small group of actors and actresses to be part of both Planet Terror and the Death Proof world. The others are Rose McGowan, Marley Shelton, Michael Parks, "The Twins" and Quentin Tarantino.