At a pre-screening of this movie, the audience was given 3-D glasses as they entered the theater. After several minutes into the "blurry" film, distorted by the 3-D glasses everyone donned, the pre-screeners realized the film was not in 3-D. The audience had been duped, but it was unclear by whom. (Cincinnati, 1982)
Leslie Nielsen turned down an offer to return as Dr. Rumack on account of his commitment to the comedy series Police Squad! (1982), created by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, the creative team behind the original Airplane! (1980). His character only appears in flashback sequences from the original movie and was replaced by the character Dr. Stone, portrayed by John Vernon.
The Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker writing and directing trio (Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams) claim (on the Blu-ray audio commentary of Airplane! (1980)) never to have seen this movie. They initially agreed to a sequel, and then balked at the idea at a later date. The movie went ahead without their permission, and despite their protests - thus, they refused to watch a single frame of it upon its release - and still have not over 40 years later.
At one point, William Shatner looks into a periscope and sees the USS Enterprise from Star Trek (1966). This is the only time the original television version of the Enterprise appeared on the big screen. For the theatrical movies, it had been heavily modified.
At the Alpha Beta base, a technician informs Buck Murdock that the piece of equipment he is working on has red lights that go back and forth, but no other apparent purpose. This piece of equipment has been seen in many science fiction movies and television series (including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), The Last Starfighter (1984), and an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)), but its function is never explained.
Art Fleming: The first host of the game show Jeopardy!, cameos as himself in a special "lunar shuttle version" of the show, although he is only credited as the "Jeopardy! host."