Adrienne Barbeau patterned her voice after Alison Steele, who was a female disc jockey from the 1960s who was known as the Nightbird.
Although this was essentially a low budget independent movie, John Carpenter chose to shoot the movie in anamorphic widescreen Panavision. This decision gave the movie a grander feel for the viewer so this didn't seem like a low budget horror movie.
After a rough cut of this movie appeared to be much too short for a theatrical release (about 80 minutes), John Carpenter subsequently added more scenes. Among these was the prologue with the elderly captain telling ghost stories to fascinated children by a campfire.
The lighthouse used is the Point Reyes Lighthouse in Marin County, California. There are over 300 steps leading down to the lighthouse.
Jazz music was used for Stevie Wayne's radio station because the royalties were more affordable than royalties for rock music.
John Carpenter: [names] Characters Nick Castle, Dan O'Bannon, Tommy Wallace are all named after Carpenter's real-life collaborators from his previous movies. Mrs. Kobritz was named after Richard Kobritz, Carpenter's producer on Someone's Watching Me! (1978).