Trivia

John Carpenter has stated that this is his least favorite of all the films he's directed, and the film he "hates thinking about the most". One reason was the constant studio interference that didn't allow Carpenter much creative freedom. Carpenter also called Chevy Chase "a director's worst nightmare" and "nearly impossible to direct", saying the same about Daryl Hannah. According to Carpenter, Chase would complain non-stop about the film's tone and hated wearing the special effects, often prematurely removing his makeup and ruining hours of filming. At one point, Carpenter broke a clipboard in half over his knee in a fit of rage when Chase removed his makeup mid-take. Carpenter said that Chase and Hannah were "immune to any punishment from the studio, and they knew it, so they walked over me and everyone else on set and essentially told us we'd be replaced if we had any problem with them...it was like working with your boss's snooty children who would tattle on you if you didn't bend to their every will." Despite this, Carpenter ended up bonding and seeking comfort in Sam Neill over the troubling production and the two became close friends; Neill agreed to work with Carpenter again on In the Mouth of Madness (1994).

Ivan Reitman was originally set to direct the film, but when he and Chevy Chase constantly had heated arguments over the film's tone, Reitman refused to work with Chase and demanded the studio choose either him or Chase. They chose Chase.

John Carpenter replaced Ivan Reitman as director.

One particular device that Chevy Chase had to wear for the film was a set of blue, eyeball-sized, contact lenses, so his eyes would appear invisible with his face looking like a mask, but with empty eye sockets. To wear them, his eyes first had to be numbed with sedative medication. The lenses had special miniature pinholes so Chase could see through them. However, after about fifteen minutes of wearing them, Chase would demand shooting to stop so he could remove them, sometimes ruining entire shots and pushing filming back by several hours.

The title was not prefixed by the words "John Carpenter's", which had been the director's practice for some time. Carpenter withdrew his next-to-the-title credit of co-titling the film with his name as "John Carpenter's" because Carpenter knew Warner Brothers would not agree to it. According to the story "John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness" by Bill Chambers at Film Freak Central, Warner Brothers would not allow Carpenter full artistic control, Carpenter saying that the studio "is in the business of making audience-friendly, non-challenging movies."

John Carpenter: As a helicopter pilot. Billed as Rip Haight, Carpenter plays one of the S.W.A.T. team members flying the helicopter chasing Chevy Chase.