Joe

Since Gorilas en la niebla (1988), Rick Baker stated that he wouldn't do any more projects that involved creating animatronic apes. Baker had to break that statement when he did ¡Cuidado! Bebé suelto (1994), which featured a gorilla scene. After that, Baker restated he would not do any more ape projects, but when he got called to work on this movie, Baker's love for the original film changed his mind. He also saw it as a chance for redemption for King Kong (1976) since he designed the King Kong suit and portrayed Kong himself. This movie was the last for which Baker created an animatronic gorilla suit. He later added El planeta de los simios (2001), starring Mark Wahlberg, to his ape-centric résumé.

Part of the film is set in California. In Los Angeles and at the carnival near the beach, there are police cars with their colored lights on. All the police cars are missing a steady red light in the front. By the California vehicle code, all emergency and law enforcement vehicles are required to have a steady red light facing forward.

German video and DVD versions are edited for violence (capturing of the gorilla, transport of the gorilla in the city, escape of the gorilla, explosion of the ferris wheel) to get a more family friendly "Not under 6" rating. The uncut version (rated "Not under 12") was shown several times on pay-TV channel Premiere World (now Sky Germany).

Edited into Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania (1999)