Alternate versions

The Ultimate edition DVD contains the following deleted/extended scenes:

• Extended power shutdown sequence.
• Extended opening flight scene.
• Brief dialogue in the first Hans/McClane confrontation.
• Extended scene where Robinson/Powell brief the FBI on the tower situation.
• Brief dialogue when Hans interrogates Takagi.
• Brief dialogue after Theo says "You didn't bring me along for my charming personality".
• Extended/alternate dialogue in McClane/Powell conversation after McClane uses the plastic explosives.
• Brief scene of FBI agents getting stuck in thorn bushes as they make their way towards the building.
• At the end, McClane says "You got a warranty for this (Holly's watch, a gift from Nakatomi Corporation)?" to which Holly laughs.
• Argyle's dialogue as Powell's police cruiser flies by in the background.
• Brief Ellis dialogue reacting to the terrorist intrusion.
• City engineer briefly coughs before pulling out the power cord.
• Brief dialogue in Hans/Karl argument about "neutralizing" McClane.
• Additional Holly dialogue after seeing Karl's reaction to McClane's escape.

German TV and video versions are cut for violence to get a 16-rating. Several scenes are shortened or deleted. Theses are the main-changes:

• The killing of the second guard in the lobby
• The execution of Mr. Takagi
• McClane shoots a terrorist in the knees 4 times
• The fight between Karl and McClane
• Karl's Death: we only see a single bullet-impact

The FX Channel adds a scene prior to the electricity-controlled opening of the vault. In it, the city engineer pulls the plug locally, but even though the power goes off, the electromagnetic seal still holds. After realizing the building has alternate power sources, Hans orders Theo to "annoy them", which leads Theo to type in commands to turn the power back on. The lights come back on, where Special Agent Johnson (Robert Davi) tells the city engineer to shut the whole grid down. A quick black-and-white frame flashes before it rejoins the original footage.

In the German dub of the movie, the German terrorists were given English names, for example Hans Gruber became "Jack Gruber", Karl became Charlie, Heinrich became Henry etc. In the scene where McClane writes down the names Hans and Karl on his forearm, we hear him say. "I'm gonna call you Hans and Karl, just like the 2 evil giants in the fairy tale." Later on, he still refers to them as Jack and Charlie.

The US television version is edited for violence but also removes the scene in which Hans and the Japanese CEO are in an elevator and Hans compliments the CEO on his taste in suits.

The foreign languages used by the terrorists (mostly German) have been fixed for the remastered Special Edition VHS version. The grammar is now correct in almost all places. The only sequences in which the grammar and pronunciation are still poor are Hans Gruber's dialogs.

The new released German Special Edition DVD version is now uncut (FSK 16) because of re-rating.