Michael O'Keefe did some of his own high bar stunts (giant swings and back flip dismount) but the more difficult high bar skills and full twisting double back dismount was done by gymnast Frank Thompson who later competed for Houston Baptist University.
According to Peter Fonda's autobiography, Tatum O'Neal was originally cast in Karen Allen's role. When the producers found out teenage O'Neal was too young to be working without supervision, she was let go.
James Woods and Brian Dennehy would work together again five years after this film was released on the thriller, Best Seller (1987).
The first of two films that director Ted Kotcheff and production designer Wolf Kroeger would work together in 1982. The other was the box-office hit "First Blood", starring Sylvester Stallone.
Gymnastics Teams in competition at the start of movie were Drayton University (Danny's team) and Bradford University (both fictitious). The victory chant after Danny's winning high bar routine was "Who owns this town, who owns this town, the people say we own this town, we own this town, especially today, Hooray!"