The character of David Marshack was originally scripted, and played out as David Marshall. However, feeling the name was too bland, Marshall was dubbed over with Marshack; unfortunately, the mouth movements of the other characters do not hide this fact as well as the director would have liked. Nor were the visual cues changed: at just under 1 hour into the film, the place card for David Marshall can be clearly seen on the leader board, just as Marshack slides to a halt beneath it.
Two songs on the soundtrack, "Punch Drunk" and "Half Man, Half Beast", are provided by the metal band Lock Up. The guitarist on those songs was Tom Morello, who would go on to form the much-acclaimed alt-rock band Rage Against the Machine.
The soliloquy that Dave quotes while sucking on helium ("Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I...") is taken from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" , Act 2, Scene 2.
The song "Cardiac Arrest" can be heard in three different scenes throughout the movie, when Reid interviews Johnny, at Reid's party, and at the cafeteria before the snowball fight.
Dean Cameron (Dave) and Patrick Labyorteaux (Ed) appeared together in Summer School (1987) as classmates. They also appeared on the TV show NCIS (2003) with Mark Harmon, star of "Summer School".