Film debut of Joe Fleishaker, Troma's 500 pound action hero. He was originally cast as an extra, but Lloyd Kaufman took a liking to him and gave him a bigger role.
Lloyd Kaufman planned for the film to be rated R for theatrical cult status: "It was our answer to Rambo, Reaganomics, to the new interest in war. We based the violence in the movie on 'Die Hard' and 'RoboCop.' Michael didn't think there would be one cut from MPAA. But the end result was the movie was totally disemboweled, totally disemboweled, to the point where bullet hits were removed, men on fire were removed, Siamese twins were removed. In order to get an R rating, the movie was rendered unwatchable." Following the film's poor critical and financial performance, Troma experienced financial hardship and jettisoned the company from the Hollywood mainstream.
Lloyd Kaufman reportedly wrote the film as a response to what he saw as the Reagan administration's glorification of war.
The leader of the AIDS brigade is named Senor Sida. Sida is the Spanish word for AIDS.
