The autographed photo of Johnny Cage that lands among Scorpion's remains is a reference to Cage's 'Friendship' move from Mortal Kombat 2 (a sort of comedy finisher where after beating your opponent to a bloody pulp you would then make peace with them by giving them a present or putting on a little show instead of killing them). Apparently many fans considered kicking the tar out of somebody and then giving them a signed photo of yourself to be incredibly egotistical, hence why it appears in the movie.

All of Scorpion's lines in this movie were done by Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon. Boon can also be heard softly whispering 'Reptile' when Reptile transforms from creature to ninja.

Every character that fights in the movie does either two special moves from the games, either one move and one fatality: Johnny Cage does the Shadow Kick to Scorpion, and the nut punch to Goro. Scorpion does the living spear throw to Johnny Cage, and the fire breath fatality to Johnny Cage as well. Sonya does the leg grab move to Kano, and breaks his neck with the leg grab fatality. Liu Kang does the fireball move at Shang Tsung, and also does the bycicle kick at Reptile. SubZero does the ice blast at an OutWorld warrior and also does the ice shatter fatality to that same warrior. Rayden does the teleport, and uses his electricity bolts to stop SubZero and Scorpion from attacking the earth fighters. Shang Tsung does the soul steal fatality, and the morphs into Chan Kang. Reptile turns invisible to sneak attack Liu, and also does the acid spit.

Cameron Diaz was originally signed to play Sonya, but had to drop out after injuring her wrist during martial arts training.