Director John Mackenzie spent two weeks in Argentina doing research for this movie. A day after he left, the Falklands War began. Production moved to Mexico instead.
Sir Michael Caine was nominated twice in the same year for the 1984 BAFTA Best Actor Award, both for this movie, and Educating Rita (1983), but Caine won the award for the latter.
Paramount Pictures changed the title from "The Honorary Consul" to "Beyond the Limit" for the American release. They did this because they believed that public audiences would not generally know what a "consul" or an "honorary consul" was. Director John Mackenzie, and others involved in the making of this movie, were against the American title change.
Sir Michael Caine was offered the lead in the earlier Graham Greene filmed adaptation The Human Factor (1979), but he turned it down. He later starred in two theatrical movie adaptations of Graham Greene novels: this movie and The Quiet American (2002).
This movie was released ten years after its source novel, "The Honorary Consul" by Graham Greene, was published.