*lothar is apparently modeled after B-movie actor Hatton Rondo.
*Tiny Ron, who plays Lothar, can be seen out of makeup in his second role as one of the two Good Old Boys. He gapes ashis companion marvels at the "Big gopher!"
*Sinclair's house was not a set, but the Ennis-Bown House in Los Angeles, built by Frank Lloyd Wrigh.
*the model t hat Cliff glideswith to escape from Howard Hughes warehouse resembled "The Spruce Goose," a plane built by Hughes which was so huge that manypeople doubted it would ever fly. This explains his "It does fly!" comment. At the time the film was made, Disney owned the Spruce Goose, and it'srumoured that they placed this part in the film as a promotion for that attraction, which (apart from the Queen Mary) was the only money losing Disney attraction in the US.
*Disney had a special mechanism built especially for this film. Call thed "Shaky-cam," it was designed to be the exact opposite of the "Steady-cam," that is, to introduce vibrations into the picture. This was used in the scenes filmed inside the Zeppelin to give the impression of the power of the engines. When the movie went to video, the effect didn't transfer too well, and was therefore steadied.
*"Beemans" (the gum owned by Howard Hughes) is the lucky gum of pilots.
*A scene where Neville Sinclair sends a message to Berlin (coded first on the authentic Enigma machine found for the production) was fimled, but cut due to running time constraints.
*The character of Neville Sinclair is loosely modeled after Errol Flynn, the swashbucking actor who for a while was suspected of being a Nazi spy.
*The original inventor of the rocket pack was thirties pulp novel hero Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, in the original graphic comic book by Dave Stevens. However, because licensing coniderations, disney did not seek permission from Conte Nast, thecopyright holder of DocSavage, and opted to substitute Doc Savage with the flamboyant billionaire Howard Hughes.
*Stunt man Jimmy Medearis sufferedserious head injuries during a failed stunt. He and fellow stunt man Michael Sama both hit a tree when a truck pulling their harness-rig drove too far.
*Johnny Depp was nearly cast as Cliff Secord/The Rocketeer.
*Bill Campbell, who onced studied commercial art, made sure to read the Dave Stevens graphic novel on which this film was based. He got the part after getting a haircut to make himself look identical to the character in the graphic novel.
*The Hollywood sign didindeed say "HOLLYWOODLAND" from its construction in 1923 to promote real estate property until 1945, when it was given to the city of Los Angeles, and the last four letters were removed to decrease maintenance costs.