In a 2005 interview, John Landis claimed that Eddie Murphy worked against the comedy of the film by deliberately not being funny. Landis knew the script wasn't very good, but he figured that Murphy could save it with his comedic routine. However, Murphy felt that his Axel Foley character was an adult now, and played him much more seriously, deliberately side-stepping around the comedy. Landis said that the film "was a very strange experience", and "an odd movie".
In an interview with The A.V. Club in 2009, Bronson Pinchot claimed that Eddie Murphy "was really depressed" at the time the movie was being filmed, claiming that Murphy was low-spirited and had a low energy level. He was depressed that most of his most recent star vehicles had either underperformed or bombed.
On Late Show with David Letterman (1993), in 2011, David Letterman read a list of some movies from Eddie Murphy's filmography. When this movie was mentioned and the audience clapped and cheered, Murphy said, "No. No. It wasn't a very good Beverly Hills Cop movie."
As Axel Foley jumps onto the Spider ride at Wonder World, the man that he jumps in front of was George Lucas.
Production was temporarily shut down to allow the Paramount top brass the chance to get to grips with the film's spiraling budget. Originally estimated at fifty-five million dollars, it was soon in excess of seventy million dollars. Of that budget, fifteen million dollars was Eddie Murphy's paycheck.
Robert B. Sherman: Disney Composers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who wrote the Wonder World song for the movie, both filmed cameos. Robert was among the old men discussing the shooting at the bar, but Richard's cameo as the Grand Marshal of the Wonder World parade was cut out.
John Landis: [filmmakers] Appearances by Directors Martha Coolidge, Joe Dante, Arthur Hiller, George Lucas (the park guest who Axel Foley cuts in front of), Peter Medak, Barbet Schroeder, George Schaefer, and John Singleton, and Animator Ray Harryhausen.