Although the Simpsons character of McBain predates this film, The Simpsons (1989) were forced to drop the character's name for a number of years, due to difficulties created by the release of an action film called "McBain." The Simpsons kept the character in the show, but referred to him by his "actual" name, Rainer Wolfcastle, until the difficulties with the film "McBain" passed.
The scenes shot all around New York City were in fact real locations such as the Drug House, The Hospital (where Dalton works), The Brooklyn Bridge (where McBain first meets Santos' sister) and the Hudson River (the fishing scene). Everything involving Colombia was shot entirely in the Phillippines.
The film was shot in the Phillippines and not actually in Colombia as the film depicts.
Michael Ironside has been outspoken about his low opinion of the finished product and of writer-director James Glickenhaus.
The scene where Luis Guzmán's character mentions to Christopher Walken and his crew about John Gombotti: this was a reference to real-life Gambino crime boss John Gotti, who in fact was being indicted at the time in New York. In the following scene, Walken and crew do kidnap a character similar to Gotti and extort money from him to finance the coup in Colombia.