Although the plot of this movie is largely fantasy, there was a real instance in U.S. history of a president's administration covering up the extent of his stroke and debilitation and instead allowing an un-elected non-politician to govern in his place after his incapacity. In the autumn of 1919, about two years into Woodrow Wilson's second term, he suffered a stroke that left him semi-paralyzed, partly blind, and mentally incapacitated to an extent that is, a century later, still not completely known. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment (which establishes the procedures for responding to a presidential incapacity) had not yet been ratified. Instead of Wilson simply resigning and passing the presidency to his vice-president, Thomas R. Marshall, what happened instead was that the extent of Wilson's illness was kept secret, and his second wife, Edith, started running the executive branch of the U.S. government in his place.
This movie's Oval Office set was re-used more than twenty-five times, for television shows and movies like The Pelican Brief (1993), Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and Absolute Power (1997).
Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were big fans of this movie. Clinton gave screenwriter Gary Ross a framed copy of the script, which he had autographed, writing that it was a "funny, often accurate lampooning of politics." Clinton also gave Ross a picture of himself holding a "Dave" mug. Obama told Kevin Kline, "I love watching the movie when I'm depressed because you make the job of President look so fun and so easy."
Sigourney Weaver's hair is short because she shaved her head for her previous movie, Alien³.
Unlike many films set in Washington, D.C., in which travel about the city jumps from point to unrelated point, the driving scenes in this movie follow the real layout of the area.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: As himself. At the time of filming and upon this movie's release, Schwarzenegger served as Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, having been nominated for that position by then-President George Bush. Schwarzenegger held that title until May 27th, 1993, fewer than three weeks after Dave (1993) premiered in theaters.