The film was released in theaters but only after it failed to air as a pilot for a network television series.
Carlos is played by Danny Quinn ,son of Anthony Quinn , while Nikki was played by a rather young Lauren Holly. The two were actually married in real life in 1991. Her very public 1994 divorce included accusations of abuse and had him claiming that her careless spending squandered their fortune and her accusing him of infidelity and refusing to work. A few months later she met Jim Carrey on the set of Dumb and Dumber (1994) and they were secretly wed for a total of ten months.
Michael Carmine, who played Ruben, also appeared on Miami Vice (1984) as Snake. Carmine was a respected actor and his sudden death from heart failure at the age of 30 shocked the acting community in 1989.
The producers worked out a unique deal with Miami Beach officials ensuring that when shooting was completed, the production would leave the area--i.e., the repainted and refurbished exteriors of Art Deco homes, the park, and various other structures--in an infinitely better condition than when they first began to work there. As a result, there was a playground built that was fully landscaped on Collins Avenue at 2nd Street in the south end of South Miami Beach.
Nestor (James Remar)'s extravagant lifestyle is supported by the underbelly of Miami Beach life. Executive producer Michael Mann said, "The cocaine dealers are anything but small-time but our heroes, the kids, and their life is what 'Band of the Hand' is about . . . their life on the skids. It's flamboyant and full of color but it's not $4-million estates on islands in the Bay. That's not their life, The milieu of 'Band of the Hand' is a sub-strata of the street life, what's happening underneath the rock, below the pavement".