Chuck Norris' character of Scott James at eighteen years of age was portrayed by his real-life son Mike Norris.
The movie featured three members of the Norris family in acting roles. These were Aaron Norris, Mike Norris and Chuck Norris.
It cost approximately US $200,000 to blow-up "The Octagon" major arena and fortress set. This was cheaper and more cost efficient than dismantling and disassembling the gigantic construction and taking it away to the dump. According to the article "Prop Sets at the Dunes" at 'The Escape from New York and LA Page' website, "many prop buildings from the [overall] Octagon [movie] set survived and were used again".
Debut cinema movie of actor and stuntman Richard Norton, debut film of costume designer Barbara Burgdorf and debut theatrical feature film directed by Eric Karson.
To save money on the production budget, director Eric Karson's expensive Jaguar car was used as a vehicle in the film. To much regret for Karson, during shooting the luxury car crashed into another car, a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.