The character of Jess Crossman was originally written as a man. After the character was made a woman and Yancy Butler was cast in the role, the filmmakers wanted to remove the part where Nessip hits her after she drops him out of the plane. However, Butler insisted that the "hitting" scene be left in, and it was.
Michael Jeter did his own stunts during the scene where we see Jagger taking Leedy for a tandem jump.
Ended up in a production race with Terminal Velocity (1994) to reach theaters first; when the other film was ready for a September release, Paramount took some extra filming time to have this one ready for a prime holiday season release instead.
Steven Seagal was originally set to play U.S. Marshal Pete Nessip, but left the project to return as Navy SEAL Casey Rayback in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). He was reportedly offered $15 million for the role.
A reversal role for Gary Busey, in this film he plays a skydiving criminal and in Point Break (1991) he plays an F.B.I. agent chasing skydiving, surfing bank robbers, which starred Patrick Swayze, who talked Busey into skydiving for real.