The film was originally meant to take place in Australia on a budget of $17 million, with Kevin Bacon reprising his role, in a wide theatrical release. When this idea approved but only given a budget of $4 million, the script was loosely rewritten to accommodate the budget.
Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire were both written into the script and expected to return as their characters from the first movie. Reba would decline due to a massive tour she was currently on at the time, and while Bacon showed interest, he ultimately turned it down to film Apollo 13. Universal Studios was pining for these two to return, and when neither did, the budget was dropped from $17 million to $4 million and production was handed over to the direct-to-video division.
After filming production wrapped in 1994, Tremors was shelved for two years after the studio was unsure what to do with the movie. This was because Universal was shocked when test audiences adored the film and demanded it play in theaters, which prompted the creators to fight Universal's proposal into sending the film direct-to-video. After two years of trying to secure a wide theatrical release and failing, Universal finally released the film in April of 1996, exactly two years after filming had finished.
To achieve the infrared view of the shriekers as seen in several scenes,the actors wore red suits and yellow stockings, then were shot in Hi-8 video tape and blown up to 35-mm film, to add an additional grainy effect the post-production video engineers then rendered the faces and bodies in different colors.
Earl struggles with ostriches at the beginning of the movie while attempting to get them to mate. His difficulty may lie with the fact that both of them are male. Female ostriches are noticeably shorter and grey.