This movie set the record for the most bullets fired in an American film.
Mira Sorvino took the role in the film at the behest of then-boyfriend Quentin Tarantino, who told her she had to work with Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-Fat.
Mira Sorvino speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. Chow Yun-Fat is a Cantonese Chinese native speaker, but can also speak some Mandarin. Sorvino was able to help translate for Chow, who was just learning English at the time.
The Chinese character engraved on Lee's bullets means "death".
During production, Columbia Pictures felt that Antoine Fuqua was struggling to deliver suitable material, and ordered a studio executive to be present during most of the filming to ensure that their money was being well spent. This angered Fuqua, and made things tense between him and Columbia. Debra Hill, a veteran producer, was called in by Columbia to cool things down. Chow Yun-Fat stood by Fuqua the whole time, and told the producers to trust him and his vision. The troubles didn't end after the production wrapped. When Fuqua delivered his initial cut, Columbia began testing the film. Test audiences struggled with the notion of a less-than-pure hero, and the bi-racial relationship between Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino. They also had issues with most of the other characters' backstories, so Columbia called in action editor Richard Francis Bruce to tighten up the film. All romantic elements between Chow and Sorvino were removed, along with most of the characters' motivations.