According to Brion James, around 50 minutes were cut from the final work-print until the released version. James said in an interview, "[Total Recall (1990)] came out a week before [this film] that summer, it made $25 million, became the #1 movie in the country, and the studio panicked because they had invested a lot in the '48 Hours' films, but they felt that at well over two hours, that the movie might be too much. My stuff was in there until one week before the film opened; that is when they cut 25 minutes out of that movie, a week before it opened. It went from around 140 to down around 95 minutes. They said, 'Cut all the behavior, action, comedy . . . '. I lost every major scene I had. That's the last time I ever cared about a movie because I went to the press screening and it was like getting kicked in the stomach, seeing what is not there. I was the third lead and now I looked like a dress extra. All the stuff that they had in the set-up, stuff in the trailer, all those scenes, were gone."
Reportedly, Eddie Murphy's paycheck for 48 Hrs. (1982) was $450,000, while Nick Nolte's salary was $1 million. For this sequel Nolte reportedly got $3 million, and Murphy received $9 million .
The last of seven Eddie Murphy movies in a row to open at #1 in the box office. His next #1 movie would be The Nutty Professor (1996).
Frank McRae was cast as Haden, Nick Nolte's boss, the same part he played in 48 Hrs. (1982). His part was almost completely cut from this picture. In one of the shots in the police precinct, McRae appears on camera for a few seconds. His role was uncredited.