Trivia

John Carpenter has stated that this is his least favorite of all the films he's directed, and is the film he "hates thinking about the most". One reason was because of the constant studio interference that didn't allow Carpenter much creative freedom. Carpenter also called Chevy Chase "a director's worst nightmare" and "nearly impossible to direct", also saying the same about Daryl Hannah. According to Carpenter, Chase would complain non-stop about the film's tone and hated wearing the special effects, often prematurely removing his makeup and ruining hours of filming. At one point, Carpenter broke a clipboard in half over his knee in a fit of rage when Chase removed his makeup mid-take. Carpenter said that Chase and Hannah were "immune to any punishment from the studio, and they knew it, so they walked over me and everyone else on set and essentially told us we'd be replaced if we had any problem with them...it was like working with your boss's snooty children who would tattle on you if you didn't bend to their every will." Despite this, Carpenter ended up bonding and seeking comfort in Sam Neill over the troubling production and the two became close friends, with Neill agreeing to work with Carpenter again on In the Mouth of Madness (1994).

This was John Carpenter's first film during the 1990s, and also his first major studio film since Big Trouble in Little China (1986). The reason he'd had not done one, was due to the fact that he'd received a lot of studio interference on that film, and felt restrained to do the films he would've liked independently. Prince of Darkness (1987) and They Live (1988) were made during that time independently.

John Carpenter replaced Ivan Reitman as director.

Ivan Reitman was originally set to direct the film, but when he and Chevy Chase constantly had heated arguments over the film's tone, Reitman refused to work with Chase and demanded the studio choose either him or Chase. They chose Chase.

One particular device that Chevy Chase had to wear for the film was a set of blue, eyeball-sized, contact lenses, so his eyes would appear invisible with his face looking like a mask, but with empty eye sockets. To wear them, his eyes first had to be numbed with sedative medication. The lenses had special miniature pinholes so Chase could see through them. However, after about fifteen minutes of wearing them, Chase would demand shooting to stop so he could remove them, sometimes ruining entire shots and pushing filming back by several hours.

John Carpenter: As a helicopter pilot. Billed as Rip Haight, Carpenter plays one of the S.W.A.T. team members flying the helicopter chasing Chevy Chase.