The character of Jess Crossman was originally written as a man. After the character was made a woman and Yancy Butler was cast in the role, the filmmakers wanted to remove the part where Nessip hits her after she drops him out of the plane. However, Butler insisted that the "hitting" scene be left in, and it was.
Against orders from both director and studio, Michael Jeter did his own stunts during the scene where we see Jagger taking Leedy for a tandem jump.
Jeter expressed an interest in the stunt but was quickly shot down when studio executives determined the production's insurance bondsman refused to cover any costs incurred if Jeter were injured (or worse). The shot was originally assigned to second-unit photography (with a stunt double); After Jeter repeated his request, regardless of insurance, director John Badham "tracked down" his second-unit director to confirm the shot proceed as agreed (sans Jeter). However, when Badham saw the dailies (in the following days) with Jeter falling out of the plane, he "blew his stack and tore into the actor," but Jeter repeatedly insisted it wasn't him, they just used "a really good stunt double, who really looked like me!"
Jeter expressed an interest in the stunt but was quickly shot down when studio executives determined the production's insurance bondsman refused to cover any costs incurred if Jeter were injured (or worse). The shot was originally assigned to second-unit photography (with a stunt double); After Jeter repeated his request, regardless of insurance, director John Badham "tracked down" his second-unit director to confirm the shot proceed as agreed (sans Jeter). However, when Badham saw the dailies (in the following days) with Jeter falling out of the plane, he "blew his stack and tore into the actor," but Jeter repeatedly insisted it wasn't him, they just used "a really good stunt double, who really looked like me!"
Ended up in a production race with Terminal Velocity (1994) to reach theaters first; when the other film was ready for a September release, Paramount took some extra filming time to have this one ready for a prime holiday season release instead.
Steven Seagal was originally set to play U.S. Marshal Pete Nessip, but left the project to return as Navy SEAL Casey Rayback in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). He was reportedly offered $15 million for the role.
A reversal role for Gary Busey, in this film he plays a skydiving criminal and in Point Break (1991) he plays an F.B.I. agent chasing skydiving, surfing bank robbers, which starred Patrick Swayze, who talked Busey into skydiving for real.