The film was in a prolonged editing phase when the studio moved up the release date. The theatrical release was the result of accelerated editing and was not finished to the director's satisfaction. The studio told the director Joe Dante that he was finished and they were going to go ahead and release what he had at that point.
When the helicopter pilot looks at the newspaper, one of the headlines says "Kingston Falls 'Riot' Still Unexplained". Kingston Falls was the town where the events in Gremlins (1984) (also directed by Joe Dante), took place.
As the boys look through the junkyard for the pieces for their ship, Rosebud (the sled from Citizen Kane (1941)) can be seen sitting at the top of a pile.
The sound effects from the movie at the drive-in were taken directly from the original 1982 Atari 2600 video game Yars' Revenge (1981).
River Phoenix, who had grown up in communes in South America, was somewhat unfamiliar with popular culture and slang words. During rehearsals it became a running joke when he would attempt scripted well-known words and phrases and usually pronounce them incorrectly.