When the Japanese are heading towards Pearl Harbor, there is a shot of a pilot waving to kids playing baseball. This is a true story as the pilot was trying to get them away before the attack started.

During the attack, when the guys are in the control tower waiting for Danny and Rafe to lead the Japanese planes past them, one man says, "I'm cocked and locked." The phrase is also used during the Doolittle raid. The expression is unique to the Colt government-model .45 cal. semi-auto pistol and its clones. It means the hammer is cocked, but the safety is ON; it is how you carry a loaded .45 so it won't go off accidentally. A "cocked and locked" weapon CANNOT be fired.

When Danny and Evelyn are flying to see Pearl Harbour, they actually don't get one glimpse of it.

When the film was shown in Japan, certain scenes were omitted (an example is the showing of geishas) and anti-Japanese slurs were not translated into Japanese.

When the bombers crash land in China more than one crew member is killed. In real life only 1 man from the raid was killed. 71 escaped and 8 were captured, four of whom were executed as war criminals by the Japanese.

When Rafe has crashed in the English Channel, he breaks the glass of the cockpit and it makes a hole in the shape of a heart.

Despite the numerous historical errors and gaffs in the movie, the only historical "fact" the filmmakers managed to do research on (and admit to supposedly) is that they consulted bottle collectors on what types of bottles to use during the battle scenes to administer blood.