The footage of the aircraft carrier passing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge was subsequently used in the opening title sequence of the first two seasons of NCIS (2003), which stars Mark Harmon.
The shot of the aircraft carrier coming into San Francisco Bay at the beginning of the movie was completely unplanned. The entire crew were, at the time, on the Presidio's parade field, along with hundreds of off-duty soldiers, filming a staged parade. When director Peter Hyams saw the fleet coming in, he stopped filming of the parade to get a shot of the ships going past. In the final cut of the movie, only a few seconds of the parade are shown at the beginning, and the rest of the day's shoot was left on the cutting room floor.
The aircraft carrier seen during the opening credits, is the U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN 70) returning to its home port of Alameda, California.
"The Presidio of San Francisco", now a former military base, was originally called "The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis" and was also known as "El Presidio Real de San Francisco". The facility is now closed, and exists mostly as a park in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area under the National Parks Service. "The Presidio" is located on the northern part of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California.
Kevin Costner was contracted to play the role that went to Mark Harmon. Apparently, Costner left the project, much to the disappointment of Sir Sean Connery, who had wanted to work again with his co-star from The Untouchables (1987).