After being disappointed by the studio taking over this film, director Mark L. Lester started to finance and sell his movies himself to keep control over them.
The infamous homoerotic line from Brandon Lee's character was originally "You have the biggest dick I've ever seen on a white man" and was shortened by Warner Bros (during editing) to "You have the biggest dick I've ever seen on a man".
Mark L. Lester's final cut came in at 90 minutes, but after seeing the test-screenings results, "Warner Bros" no longer supported the film and cut it down to 79 minutes.
All of the swords used in the film were replicas, with the exception of the one used by Dolph Lundgren's character when he slices through bundles of bamboo: this was an authentic samurai sword.
Dolph Lundgren's leather jacket in the movie has the kanji logo of his karate style, Kyokushin, written on the left sleeve.