The George Gershwin song "Someone to Watch Over Me" is heard in the movie in three separate renditions. They were by: (1) Sting, heard at the start of the film (2) Roberta Flack, heard over the end credits and (3) Gene Simmons with Richard Wyands, Doug Watkins and J.C. Heard, from an original 1961 version. The Sting and Roberta Flack versions were new takes recorded especially for this movie. No movie soundtrack album for Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) was ever released. Sting's version of the song got distributed as the B-side track on his "Englishman in New York" single as well as also being included on the later 1999 compilation album "At The Movies". The Flack rendition of the song has never been officially commercially available other than where it is heard in this movie.
The nightclub scenes were filmed on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. The murder scene was filmed in the Queen Mary's pool area.
The role of Ellie Keegan was portrayed by then newcomer Lorraine Bracco. Director Sir Ridley Scott said: "Again, it was a hunting process trying to cast Ellie. I wanted somebody who was fiercely independent and an interesting humorous character. It had to be someone who was the antithesis of Claire and yet someone who was equivalent to her. I think Lorraine fulfills those requirements very well".
Director Sir Ridley Scott commented on finding an editor at the same time he was looking for leading man Tom Berenger: "At the same time, I had started to look for an editor. I had really liked Claire Simpson's work on Salvador (1986) and persuaded Oliver Stone to let me see a rough cut of Platoon (1986) to see more of her work. As soon as I saw Tom, I thought 'Bingo!', Sergeant Barnes is the antithesis of Mike Keegan. But after seeing him play Barnes and knowing what he did in The Big Chill (1983), I just said, 'I've got to have this guy!'."