Revealing mistake: When Lorrie throws the chair out the window, follow its path down. It bounces off a mat, revealing that she's about two feet off the ground. (Corrected in the BluRay release). (00:01:00)
Continuity mistake: When Doug first arrives at the Tower, he goes down an elevator from the roof to the 65th floor, then has to cross over to different elevators. In one of these, he goes up - to 79 according to the display; but the floor buttons on the control, consist of just 16 buttons; the 7th or 8th button is lit as he gets off, so he has only gone up halfway to 79. (00:06:45)
Continuity mistake: The art teacher cleans her hands with a towel, but a shot later they're lowered. (00:10:49)
Continuity mistake: A technician talks to Mr. Callahan and leaves. Callahan places both hands on the computer, but a shot later his left arm is lowered. (00:11:42)
Character mistake: Just before the fire starts on the 81st floor, a man is shown telling an elderly couple that business offices only go as high as 80, and that 81-120 is exclusively residential. Not long after O'Hallorhan arrives, he asks Jernigan for a list of business tenants from 81-85, which Jernigan replies "most are yet to move in and those that have are not working at night". As said by the man earlier, these floors do not house business tenants, only residential. (00:12:05 - 00:43:45)
Suggested correction: Chief O'Halloran asked Doug for the floor plans from 81-85. He then asked Jernigan for a list of business tenants. Chief O'Halloran did not ask for businesses on any specific floor.
Revealing mistake: When the security guard attempts to open the storage room door where the fire has started, he is set ablaze. Look closely, and he is wearing large protective gloves over his hands, plus a special mask. (00:38:15)
Continuity mistake: Roberts rings Duncan and tells him Will Giddings has suffered burns and there is a fire in the building. We hear the whole conversation and Duncan ends it by saying, "A fire in a storage room on 81 can't hurt us up here," but Roberts never mentioned where the fire is. (00:39:45)
Revealing mistake: During the party, doors open and a burning man appears. He is wearing fireproof gloves, his face is covered in some dark mask and some sort of awful wig to hide all the safety procedures. He resembles a werewolf. (00:57:20)
Revealing mistake: When Dan Bigelow is going out to get help, at one point you can see him dipping down to get ignited. (01:04:00)
Revealing mistake: When Dan Bigelow tries to save himself and his girlfriend from certain death by racing through the flames to get help, watch as he falls to his death. The stuntman portraying him is wearing a protective glove on his right hand. (01:04:40)
Continuity mistake: When Dan dies there's a wide shot of the building with several floors engulfed in flames. When Lorrie is free-falling just two seconds later, for the scenes play in real time - the flames have disappeared. (01:04:53 - 01:06:10)
Revealing mistake: After Dan Bigelow is killed, Lorrie goes back into the office to protect herself from the flames. When she is kneeling down in the office, you can see the fireproof pants on her legs. (01:05:00)
Continuity mistake: When O.J. Simpson (Security Guard) attempts to rescue the mother and 2 children from their apartment, he kicks the door in. If you look closely, the door is actually open and he's holding it shut so he "can" kick it in! (01:06:45)
Revealing mistake: On the roof during the helicopter rescue scene, there is a panic and some women run to the helicopter trying to land in strong winds. As it explodes, a woman in a slinky dress falls down. Paul Newman helps her up and her dress is whisked up to reveal "stuntwoman" kneepads on her legs. (01:51:15)
Continuity mistake: The people inside the elevator disappear in the wide angle. (01:57:21 - 01:57:51)
Continuity mistake: In the shot where the 12 people are going down the scenic elevator, you can see the fire coming through the windows but then, when it widens out the shot to show the helicopter flying nearby, there are no flames whatsoever on any floor of the building. (01:57:35)
Other mistake: During the scenic elevator rescue scene, a helicopter lowers the Fire Chief down to connect a cable to the top of the elevator. The cable is seen to be hanging no more than three feet from the side of the building. If this were the case, the helicopter's rotors would be hitting the building. (02:04:10 - 02:06:10)
Continuity mistake: When the first woman goes across on the breeches buoy, the overhead shot of her going across does not show the outside elevator which at this stage is hanging by a cable and stuck on the outside. However, it is visible in the shots from the peerless building which the breeches buoy is attached to. (02:05:10)
Revealing mistake: Watch carefully as the statue falls on the bartender. It barely touches his chest and rests on his left thigh. As the bartender slumps dead you can see a wide open gap between his whole upper body and the statue. Even if it crushed his thigh it would not have killed him so quickly. When the bartender slumps down the statue rocks freely as he brushes against it; obviously a styrofoam replica.
Continuity mistake: During the scenic elevator rescue scenes, the building has moved across the downtown core and is now located next to the Transamerica Pyramid, which is many city blocks to the west.
