Early in the film's pre-production stages, Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft were strongly considered for the roles of Beau Burroughs and Katherine Richelieu. But when Bancroft died, and Hoffman had filming commitments for several other projects, the roles were given to Kevin Costner and Shirley MacLaine.
The screenwriter Ted Griffin was the original director, but was fired after just twelve days of shooting, which resulted in Rob Reiner taking over. Production had to be shut down for a few days as Reiner was allowed to make script, cast, and crew changes before filming eventually resumed. As a result of this, original cast members Charlie Hunnam, Lesley Ann Warren, Tony Bill, and Greta Scacchi were all let go from the project.
This was the first movie in history to be released to HDDVD.
Along with President Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro, the picture on the far left is Beau (Kevin Costner) with Rob Reiner (the director). Hugh Hefner was originally supposed to be pictured, but Hefner objected at the last minute. Reiner was added in digitally.