The thousands of gold coins made by Steranko's metallurgists were actually chocolate coins covered in gold foil wrapping.
Original screenwriter Fred Dekker initially conceived the story with Anthony Michael Hall in mind for the role of Michael Corbin before the producers chose to have it rewritten for Richard Grieco.
Steranko's goons were played by members of a Montreal police SWAT unit.
Two of the ideas for gadgets in this film - exploding gum and X-ray glasses - were later used in spy films Mission: Impossible (1996) (the gum) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) (the glasses).