Burton Richardson wrote the screenplay after becoming disillusioned by his work in Hollywood. Specifically, he was disappointed that so many studio films he'd worked on were pessimistic revenge stories, and thus sought to create a more positive action movie.
While shooting the nighttime scene at the bay, Burton Richardson wanted to film a shot with a crane, but the production had no cranes at its disposal. Richardson spotted a local maintenance crew fixing street lamps with an industrial crane, and paid the technicians five dollars for brief use of their machine.
The production benefited greatly from the generosity of locals: a neurosurgeon volunteered their office to shoot a scene, a hotel manager offered his hotel for several shots, and cinematographer Hui Kang shot gratis test footage which the filmmakers ended up using in the film.