Although he shaved over $3 million off the original budget due to his fast shooting style, director Jonathan Frakes openly admitted that this movie's disastrous box-office performance probably means he is unlikely to be offered a movie directing assignment again. Indeed, as of 2021, this is Frakes' last feature directorial effort.
As the young Thunderbirds prepare to launch towards The Bank of London with Lady Penelope, an insert shot shows a hand grabbing a lever. This hand is held up by strings, a quick reference to the style of animation used in the Thunderbirds television series. Also, this is in a complete reversal to the series, as all shots in the television show were of marionettes, except when there was an extreme close-up of a hand or foot, at which point was replaced with a person's hand or foot doing the required action (pulling a switch, stepping on the gas pedal of a car, et cetera).
To promote the movie, British distributors UIP took over Trafalgar Square with a 3/4-scale model of Thunderbird 3.
The five Tracy brothers were named after five of the NASA astronauts from the "Mercury Seven" space program from the early 1960's:
- Scott Tracy after Scott Carpenter.
- Virgil Tracy after Gus Grissom whose real first name was Virgil.
- Alan Tracy after Alan Shepard.
- Gordon Tracy after Gordon Cooper.
- John Tracy after John Glenn.
When The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley) controls Brains (Anthony Edwards) to activate the command controls on Tracy Island, he walks towards the desk in a jerky, puppet-like motion, even though the marionettes in the series did not walk in such a manner. The Hood states, "Like a puppet on a string" to further underline the reference.
Jonathan Frakes: As a policeman at the end of the movie. His wife, Genie Francis, appeared as a newscaster throughout the movie.