NASA shows this film during their management training program. New managers are given the task of trying to spot as many errors as possible. At least 168 have been found.
Regarding the film's premise, Ben Affleck asked director Michael Bay, "Wouldn't it be easier for NASA to train astronauts how to drill rather than training drillers to be astronauts?" Bay told Affleck to "shut the fuck up". However, the reasoning behind sending drillers rather than training astronauts is actually addressed in the movie: when Harry is initially summoned to NASA, it is with the intention of him helping to prepare real astronauts to do the drilling. It is not until he explains that the job is too complex and unpredictable for him to teach others in a few weeks what he learned over several decades that they start to consider training real drillers to become astronauts. However, commenting on this dialogue on the audio commentary Affleck states he does not buy that reasoning.
Because of the patriotic nature of the script, and the success of using Top Gun: Ídolos del aire (1986) starring Tom Cruise as recruitment material, the producers persuaded NASA to allow director Michael Bay and company to shoot in the normally restricted space agency. This included the neutral buoyancy lab, a 65 million-gallon, 40 foot-deep pool used to train astronauts for weightlessness, and the use of two $10 million space suits. The crew was also allowed to shoot in the historic launch pad that went out of service after the Apollo 1 disaster, and parts of the movie were filmed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Bruce Willis has said that he did not care for Michael Bay's directing style, and he refuses to work with him again.
Shannon Lucid: The astronaut who made headlines for setting endurance records for living in space aboard the Mir Space Station is in the background of the "underwater simulation" scenes.