Although he shaved over $3 million off the original budget due to his fast shooting style, director Jonathan Frakes openly admitted that this movie's disastrous box-office performance probably means he is unlikely to be offered a movie directing assignment again. Indeed, as of 2021, this is Frakes' last feature directorial effort.
To promote the movie, British distributors UIP took over Trafalgar Square with a 3/4-scale model of Thunderbird 3.
As the young Thunderbirds prepare to launch towards The Bank of London with Lady Penelope, an insert shot shows a hand grabbing a lever. This hand is held up by strings, a quick reference to the style of animation used in the Thunderbirds television series. Also, this is in a complete reversal to the series, as all shots in the television show were of marionettes, except when there was an extreme close-up of a hand or foot, at which point was replaced with a person's hand or foot doing the required action (pulling a switch, stepping on the gas pedal of a car, et cetera).
The five Tracy brothers were named after five of the NASA astronauts from the "Mercury Seven" space program from the early 1960's:
- Scott Tracy after Scott Carpenter.
- Virgil Tracy after Gus Grissom whose real first name was Virgil.
- Alan Tracy after Alan Shepard.
- Gordon Tracy after Gordon Cooper.
- John Tracy after John Glenn.
When The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley) controls Brains (Anthony Edwards) to activate the command controls on Tracy Island, he walks towards the desk in a jerky, puppet-like motion, even though the marionettes in the series did not walk in such a manner. The Hood states, "Like a puppet on a string" to further underline the reference.
Jonathan Frakes: As a policeman at the end of the movie. His wife, Genie Francis, appeared as a newscaster throughout the movie.