The Boeing B-29 Superfortress featured in the flying sequences was Fertile Myrtle, Air Force 45-21787, Navy BuNo 84029, Civil Registration N91329. From 1951 to 1956 it was used by the Navy and NACA to launch the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket at Edwards Air Force Base, California. It is currently in the collection of the International Sport Aviation Museum in Lakeland, Florida. Four other partial B-29 Superfortresses were acquired from the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, California. One was used for interior shots at the Walt Disney Studios. Another was used for night sequences afloat in MGM's outdoor tank. The third was used for the crash site on the island and the fourth was made into the floating Noah's Ark. They were returned to the Navy after filming concluded.
This 1980 cinema movie alongside the same year's Herbie Goes Bananas (1980) were the final theatrical feature films as a full producer for Ron Miller, the son-in-law of Walt Disney, who afterwards became solely an executive producer.
This was the first of two consecutive films that Elliott Gould made for the Walt Disney Studios. The second was 1981's The Devil and Max Devlin (1981).