The working title "Four Day Revolution" was acceptable in the Philippines, where the People's Revolution took place. However, for filming in Sri Lanka (where a revolution was actually happening), it was thought that "A Dangerous Life" would create less undesirable attention. So the film actually had two working titles during production, both as a result of Security concerns.
The producers McElroy & McElroy had previously been forced to abandon filming in the Philippines with a movie called The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), a similar title to "A Dangerous Life"--for which they arranged a $2-million insurance cover against being forced out again.
In the script's first draft, Tony and Angie were simply boyfriend and girlfriend. In later versions, it was thought that making them a married couple would add more to their arguments and separation.
In real life, Roy Alvarez (who played Col. Tiger Tecson) closely resembles Col. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan (played by Rez Cortez), but the producers felt Alvarez looked the part of playing Angie's (Rebecca Gilling) love interest.
The film has no known references to Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III (later the President of the Republic of the Philippines 2010-2016; he won the presidential election a year after Cory Aquino passed away on August 1, 2009). At the time of filming he was an employee of Intra-Strata Assurance Corporation.