Cameron Diaz was offered the role of Shelley, but turned it down because she didn't like the script.
River Phoenix and Christian Slater were both offered the role of Eric Draven before Brandon Lee.
Brandon Lee died during a mishap on the set. A scene required a gun to be loaded, cocked, and then pointed at the camera. Because of the close-range of the shot, the bullets loaded had real brass caps, but no powder. After the cut, the propsmaster (not the armsmaster - he had left the set for the day) dry-fired the gun to get the cock off, knocking an empty cartridge into the barrel of the gun. The next scene to be filmed involving that gun was the rape of Shelly. The gun was loaded with blanks (which usually contain double or triple the powder of a normal bullet to make a loud noise). Lee entered the set carrying a bag of groceries containing an explosive blood pack. The script called for Funboy (Michael Massee) to shoot Eric Draven (Lee) as he entered the room, triggering the blood pack. The cartridge that was stuck in the barrel was blasted at Lee through the bag he was carrying, killing him. The footage of his death was destroyed without being developed. Lee is the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who died in mysterious circumstances before completing Game of Death (1978).
The following scenes were completed after Lee's death:
Draven first enters the apartment after digging himself out of his grave: footage of Lee walking through an alley in the rain was digitally composited into the scene where he walks through the doorway. Computer technology added drops of water to the door frame to make the water on his back not seem out of place.
The shot of Draven falling from the window was made by digitally compositing Lee's face (complete with simulated blood) onto a body double.
The scene where Draven puts on his make-up was filmed using a double. The face in the smashed mirror was Lee's, computer-altered to fit the shards. The image of Draven walking towards the window with the crow on his shoulder was a double with Lee's face added during lightning flashes.
When Sarah visits the apartment, we never see Draven's face as it is a double.
Scenes featuring Michael Berryman as the Skull Cowboy were cut.
The poem that Eric Draven quotes when he breaks into Gideon's shop is "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.
T-Bird's final words are from Book IV of Milton's "Paradise Lost". When Lucifer is found in Paradise by two Cherubs, he rebukes them for not recognizing him. They rebuke right back saying that his appearance has changed from being in Hell. "So spake the Cherub; and his grave rebuke, Severe in youthful beauty, added grace Invincible: Abashed the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely; saw, and pined His loss."
James O'Barr stealing a TV set after Gideon's shop was blown up.
During the first day of shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina, a carpenter suffered severe burns after his crane hit live power lines. On subsequent days, a grip truck caught fire, a disgruntled sculptor crashed his car through the studio's plaster shop, and a crew member accidentally drove a screwdriver through his hand.
The director wanted Iggy Pop to play Funboy, and created the character to fit him, but scheduling prohibited Iggy Pop from being in the movie. He was in the sequel instead.
Top Dollar, Myca, and Grange are never referred to by name in the movie.
Set in Detroit (evidenced by references to "Devil's Night" [the traditional arson and vandalism "holiday"] and "motor city").
The order in which Draven hunts down the four killers is the same order in which they attack him in the apartment.
