During an interview Christopher Walken said he portrayed his somewhat "friendly" demeanor as Sgt. Toomey due to meeting an on set military consultant who was a "very tough Drill Sgt." But at the same time he also described him as a "very nice, soft-spoken man", whom everyone feared, but he didn't have to sound or look fearful. In meeting this man, he decided to incorporate both types of people in his character, which was almost a 180 degree difference from the stage play character Sgt. Toomey.
Matthew Broderick, Matt Mulhern, and Penelope Ann Miller all reprized their Broadway roles in the film.
The scene in which they go to the prostitute was filmed in Van Buren, Arkansas. Most of the movie was filmed in the neighboring town of Fort Smith, Arkansas at Fort Chaffee.
According to Corey Parker (who played Epstein), "the scariest experience during the shoot" was when Christopher Walken was "plastered" during the filming of "the scene where Walken is supposed to be drunk and is carrying a pistol." His "lines were gone," so a script supervisor had to feed him individual lines.
Though actor Matthew Broderick won a Tony Award for playing Eugene Morris Jerome on Broadway, he did not play the part in the cinema movie of Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), this film's precursor. Broderick would play him in this sequel Biloxi Blues (1988). Jonathan Silverman, who had replaced Broderick in the Broadway runs of "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues," played Eugene in the film version of Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), and also in the Broadway production of "Broadway Bound," the third part of the trilogy. For the telemovie of Broadway Bound (1992), Corey Parker, who plays Eugene's colleague, Arnold Epstein, in this film, portrayed Eugene, with Jonathan Silverman taking the part of Eugene's older brother, Stanley.