Despite the fact that Clara and her brother call Drosselmeier "uncle", he is actually not related to them. Hans, the Nutcracker, is his nephew.
Clara's kitten Pavlova was named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova.
In the ballet Fritz is older than Clara. In the movie Clara's older than Fritz.
Unlike in the ballet, Fritz is not punished for breaking Nutcracker.
This film moved its release date from November 16th to November 21st to avoid competition with "The Rescuers Down Under" (1990).