The movie was notable for its very 1970s electronic score. The film's Australian movie poster emphasized its soundtrack, plugging it in bold letting at the bottom saying: "Soundtrack available on [Channel] 7 Records".
A number of production personnel who worked on this movie also worked on the classic Australian cult movie Mad Max (1979) which had been released about a year earlier. These included actors Steve Bisley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward, Tim Burns, David Bracks and Mel Gibson as well as producer-director George Miller.
This movie's working titles were 'The Man at the Edge of the Freeway' and 'Nuclear Run'. The longer of these titles was considered too long and pretentious. Moreover, producer David Elfick did a manual search of film titles starting with the wording 'The Man' and found them to be box-office disappointments. Elfick also suggested 'Contaminated' to be this movie's title. In the end, the title was changed to 'The Chain Reaction' in order to have a title with more impact. This title was apparently conceived by Hans Pomeranz.
George Miller was originally scheduled to direct this movie but Miller withdrew from the project but ended up directing (uncredited) stunt sequences and second unit only. Miller is credited as an associate producer on the film. Miller ended up directing the second-unit and stunt sequences more out of necessity than invention as this was because the production was running over schedule and running out of money.
This film is considered an Ozploitation picture, an Australian exploitation movie.
Mel Gibson: Uncredited, the Mad Max (1979) star as a bearded mechanic who crawls out from underneath a car.