The black jaguar was a trained animal called Shadow, handled by professional wrangler Gerry Therrien. Shadow was also cast as Bagheera in The Jungle Book (1994).
The gyroscope-based SpaceCam system was used to stabilize the camera during the helicopter shots.
The opening night scenes in the Guatemalan jungle were shot day-for-night with a blue filter, with digital lightning effects added later.
According to the DVD commentary and the making-of documentary, it was a particular challenge to use extremely heavy 70 mm IMAX film equipment in a remote, uninhabitable part of the Venezuelan jungle, with film stock limited to just 2.40 minutes per reel, in rapidly changing weather conditions.
The inside of the New York apartment building was a set in a Montreal studio. The close-up of the faucet was really a man-sized studio model.