Trivia: Just in case some people don't know, most of the "German" in this movie is total gibberish. Some sentences are perfectly correct and properly spoken, as with the welcoming speech, the German soldiers and platform announces at the station, the "Ich liebe dich, mein Schatz", etc. But the learning tape, the conversations at the Culture Hall during dinner and the East Germany Anthem are just a bunch of "German-dutch sounding noises." Of course, it's even funnier to know that there are subtitles for all these with content that has nothing to do with it.
Trivia: Val Kilmer sang all of his own parts in this film. That fact was a contributing factor to his being offered the role of Jim Morrison in "The Doors."
Trivia: Family cameo: Burton Zucker, father of directors Jerry and David, appears as the chef holding the cleaver and the chicken during the "Tutti Frutti" number. Also, Charlotte Zucker (the mother) plays the woman that Nick takes the hand of after he has dropped off the chandelier.
Trivia: The soldiers bursting into the theater Prop Room are none other than the Zucker Bros. and Abrahams themselves.
Trivia: Part of the Latin text the priest reads on Nick's (or rather, his own) last walk are extracts from the 'De Bello Gallico' (On the Gallic Wars), Julius Caesar's account on his wars in present day France and Germany 58 - 49 BC.
Trivia: The song the horse sings is "Du, Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen" ('You, You, Weigh On My Heart'), a North German folk song of about 1820. And it's done in perfect German, too.
Trivia: Val Kilmer actually went through a lot of work to learn to play guitar for the role. The Zuckers encouraged him at first, except once they started shooting the dance scenes, they just directed him to mimic playing the guitar in an absurd fashion, and not really play it. Kilmer recalls this was the cruelest joke ever played on him.
Trivia: The look of Nigel was inspired by the film The Blue Lagoon.
Trivia: In the German synchronization, the "national hymn" at the end of the welcoming ceremony was drastically altered; the singing voices were changed to a men-only choir, a different song was used, and the subtitles with the depressing text were completely omitted. Obviously, the text of the original version was considered too offensive for the then still-existing East German neighbors.
Trivia: The name of the cafe where the resistance members meet is a literal but grammatically bad translation of the trademark name 'Pizza Hut'. In correct German it should be 'Das Pizzahaus'. And by-the-by: 'Pizza Hut' also exists in Germany, but under a slightly changed name and logo; 'Pizza Hut' in this case means (literally) 'Pizza Hat' (like the headgear).
Trivia: The prosthetic face of Peter Cushing was digitally scanned for his CGI appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Trivia: The sequence with Nick riding the bike was a parody of the film The Great Escape.
Trivia: Nick has a pic of Cher in his cell because Val Kilmer was in a relationship with her at the time.
Trivia: Val Kilmer's first film.
Chosen answer: The actors were weighted down with lead plates. Oxygen tanks were kept just out of picture, and the actors used them to breathe between takes. The takes were short enough to allow the actors to hold their breath through them. The short takes were then cut together to appear as one long fight. Sound effects were added post-production.