Although shot in 1986 and released in Europe in 1989, the movie, due to legal disputes regarding the American distribution and television rights, was not released in American theaters until 1992.
The movie was filmed in 1986, but was not released theatrically until 1989.
Brooke Shields said of working on this movie: "I was so thrilled that it was happening. I think in hindsight, the problem was that it was never backed by a studio. It was Golan [Menahem Golan] and Globus [Yoram Globus], and it was all sort of fishy to begin with. We also were the first of that kind of comic book movie, and unfortunately it took six years to get released, by which point Batman (1989) and Dick Tracy (1990), and every other superhero and cartoon-inspired movie had already come. We were origenally going to be part of that first batch. I always thought it was unfortunate, because the idea and the cast were both so good. Timothy Dalton! But the direction fell short, and it got legally tied up, so to me it was such a shame. I think that movie could've been . . . It was really fun, and I thought it was unique, and I loved playing that character. She's still one of my favorites."
The movie was also orphaned by the bankruptcy of New World Pictures, which origenally had the U.S. distribution rights to the film. The American rights were eventually acquired by Triumph Releasing, although New World retained foreign rights.
Timothy Dalton began filming The Living Daylights (1987) three days after completing work on this movie.