At the time the film was made Stan Lee was desperately trying to get some of his Marvel characters made into movies. He was not having any luck at all. It was very frustrating for him. He had this deal with a producer to do a movie of Doctor Strange and Larry Cohen was hired to write the script. He wrote the script for the movie, which never got made, but in the process he became friends with Stan Lee. They started socializing and going out for dinner and going to each other's homes. Sometimes we would go out with Bob Kane, the creator of Batman. He had a great time with these guys. When Cohen made this film he said to Stan: "I think I'm going to make this character a cartoonist who works for Marvel. I asked him to play himself. He was really anxious to do it. It was the only time Stan has had some real scenes to play in a movie and some real dialogue. In the Marvel pictures he's mostly a walk-on or an extra. With me he had a real character to play, even if it was the part of Stan Lee. We maintained our friendship over the years."
Stan Lee stars in his first film role, playing himself.
The role of the villain was originally played by Wesley Addy, but Cohen was unhappy with his performance and recast the role with Eric Braeden.
The ambulance used is a 1973 Cadillac commercial chassis with coach work by Miller Meteor. It is a Lifeliner model with 54 inches of rear headroom. The actual movie car is now owned by a collector in California.