Glad Bags and DeLaurentiis Entertainment co-sponsored a real-life million-dollar "treasure hunt" to coincide with this film's release. At the end of the movie, the cash is still missing, and moviegoers were invited to find the location of the hidden stash, using clues provided in the film. The sponsors also emphasized that the money wasn't PHYSICALLY hidden anywhere, lest anyone injure themselves or damage property while searching for the loot. The audience just had to GUESS where the money was hidden. Ticket buyers were even given game cards shaped like American currency, with a big photo of Dino De Laurentiis where the President should be. (The money was hidden in the bridge of the Statue of Liberty's nose.) In the end, it was a big disaster for the studio. The film was one of the major flops of the 1980s, barely grossing a million dollars at the box office, which the studio wound up forking over to the contest winner: a woman in Bakersfield, California.
Veteran stuntman Dar Robinson was killed executing a motorcycle stunt for this movie. The film is dedicated to him - as was Lethal Weapon (1987), which he completed prior to shooting this film.
Tom Bosley, who appears in a small but important role, was the spokesman for GLAD sandwich and trash bags. GLAD was one of this movie's sponsors.
This was inspired by It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963).