The book being handed out by Dr. Forrester at the convention was actually a poetry book written by Sam Morningstar's (Alan Clayton) father.
The scene at the beginning of the convention was slightly rewritten to allow the guests to keep their jackets on. This was because the Modjeska Theatre where it was filmed had the heat turned off, and being filmed in the middle of winter the theatre was almost 50 degrees.
"Project Orion" from the film is actually based on a real military project of the same name from the cold war. The design in the film was based off of actual declassified documents on the project.