Early publicity announced in the media declared that Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jerry Reed would not be appearing in this movie. In the end, Field was the only one not to appear, Reed had a major role and Reynolds made a brief cameo, in the final scene.
If you notice the interstate chase scenes after Cledus picks up the girl, there are no lane lines on the road. This is because the road was the new stretch of Interstate 75 between Tampa and Miami before it had opened. Lane lines were not even completed.
Jackie Gleason would only commit to the film if he had total approval of the script. There were at least 11 versions of the script written before Gleason would approve of the final script which he hated and asked "why do we need writers?".
Original "Smokey and the Bandit" director Hal Needham and its big star Burt Reynolds were not interested in making this movie as they were developing another project, Stroker Ace (1983). Reynolds ended up making a very brief cameo appearance though, in the final scene.
Originally titled "Smokey and the Bandit Part 3: Smokey Is The Bandit", with Jackie Gleason playing both Sheriff Justice and The Bandit. Test audiences disliked seeing Gleason as The Bandit and parts of the film were re-shot with Jerry Reed reprising his role of Cledus who was now the new "Bandit". Gleason's scenes as The Bandit have never surfaced but one publicity still of Gleason dressed as The Bandit has been found. Reportedly, Gleason said at this early time: "This picture is much better than the other two 'Smokeys'. There are more laughs. I write everything I do, but I don't take any screen credit - just the money."
Burt Reynolds: The series big main star makes a walk-on appearance as The Real Bandit / Bo Darville.