The villain, Dr. Eric Kiviat, is loosely based on Dr. Roy Mackal (University of Chicago)-- biologist, engineer, teacher and biochemist--and his voyages to Africa in search of the legendary living dinosaurs of the Congo, Mokele-Mbembe. Mackal's 1980 Congo trip with fellow cryptozoologist James Powell was featured in Dragons, Dinosaurs and Giant Snakes (1980).
A scene that ended up on the cutting room floor featured Baby meeting a family of elephants and contemplating taking refuge among them. It was filmed on the Disney back lot after the main unit had returned from the Africa shoot. A photograph of this deleted scene was published in Cinefex magazine issue 22, published June 1985.
The baby dinosaur's animatronic tail failed to function properly, but this did not prove to be a problem, as it moved by itself when the Dino walked.
The Mokele Mbembe legend is from West Congo, yet the movie was filmed in Ivory Coast, in another part of Africa. The script rigorously avoids naming the country where the plot takes place.
Joel Goldsmith, son of Jerry Goldsmith--who scored the film--did source cues (though not credited) for the film. Only portions of the pieces were used. When Intrada Records re-issued the film score on May 14, 2018, along with better tape sources for the score, the full source cues as recorded were included.