In order to heighten the film's sense of reality, director Jon Avnet, actress Bai Ling, and co-producer Martin Huberty traveled to Beijing for a week of "guerilla" shooting, without the knowledge or permission of the Chinese government, to capture the first-ever 35mm film of the city to appear in a Hollywood film.
Most of the film's exterior scenes were shot on a seven-acre reproduction of a Beijing neighborhood, constructed near Los Angeles International Airport. The set was decorated with 300 bicycles, 15 cars, and thousands of miscellaneous props - from stoves to manhole covers - which had actually been imported from China.
For the scene in which Jack is intimidated with video of a government execution, the filmmakers used actual execution footage which had been smuggled out of China.
Production designer Richard Sylbert took two research trips to China, where he took over 1,500 photographs in order to provide himself with real-life references for the film's massive sets.
Red Corner (1997) was heavily edited in the People's Republic of China due to its depiction of the Chinese legal system and the courtroom scenes. Also, any mention of Tibet was cut out completely from the film.