In the first "street dancing" scene, in which Kelly accompanies Ozone and Turbo to the beach, the audience watching the dancing is comprised of surfers and beach bums. A man in a black singlet claps with the music. It's Jean-Claude Van Damme in his first on-screen appearance. According to Van Damme, he tried hard to draw attention to himself by jumping in the air and doing flips, but they were not included in the film.
According to Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo Quinones would often try to show her up and make her feel intimidated because of her dancing ability and their clashes within the film rang true with his personal resentment for her which was also shared by their co-star Michael Chambers.
The film uses two of Ice-T's early instrumental raps: Tibetan Jam and Reckless. The producers later used Tibetan Jam as background music in Missing in Action (1984).
The idea for the film came from Menahem Golan's daughter who one day while at the beach saw a group of break dancers performing before a crowd.
This was Cannon Films most financially successful movie as distributor.