For the car chase scenes, John Cena trained with the New Orleans Police Department in order to do his own stunt driving.

John Cena admits that he has a fear of heights. One of the scenes revolved around him rappelling down the side of a building and then dangling from a rope in mid-air. On a DVD extra, Cena said shooting this scene made him so uneasy that he almost quit the film.

Taking from something from Cena's wrestling career, anytime a cast member messed up they had to do push-ups for whichever person they wronged, and say "I am '(name of the person wronged)''s bitch!" after each one.

John Cena is the third WWE Superstar to receive a role in a WWE Films (Studios) production. Dwayne The Rock Johnson was the first with Walking Tall and Stone Cold Steve Austin was the second with The Condemned.

John Cena lashed out in the media at critics that he said he thought condemned the movie in their reviews simply because he is a wrestler.

The scenes where Danny is driving the fire truck were done with John Cena in the cab, but a second steering wheel was hidden in the cab where a stunt driver concealed off camera controlled the vehicle.

For each day of filming, director Renny Harlin rewarded the most valuable cast or crew member for that day with a bottle of Finlandia vodka.

During filming, John Cena reduced his wrestling schedule to only appearing at pay-per-views and Monday Night Raw tapings.

John Cena explained in a interview plus on the commentary track on the DVD that he was looking to do another film after finishing The Marine (2006). This film was pitched to him by producer Josh McLaughlin and John became very interested. He continued that this movie was better than The Marine despite he enjoyed working that film and likes the movie. The main reason this movie because, according to Cena, was that it tells more of a emotional story and the audience would have a strong connection to the characters. At the same time, the producers also wanted a non-stop PG-13 action film like The Marine.

Near the end of the movie, one can hear WWE superstar Mark Henry's theme song from back when he was using his "Sexual Chocolate" persona.

The "Extreme Cut" on the DVD contains more graphic violence and bad language that was not in the theatrical version.

Renny Harlin appears at least three times in the beginning of the movie. Also at the end of the film, Renny's voice can be heard over the radio in the helicopter that Miles Jackson tries to escape in.

The DVD contains the trailer to The Marine 2 (2009). John Cena starred in the original, The Marine (2006), however, he is being replaced by fellow WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr. in the sequel.

The bus used during the movie is numbered 5050. A possible reference to the movie Speed where a cop tries to stop a madman.

Addition to Director's trademarks section: the name of the boat near the motor home with the Finnish flag, is "Satu", which is the Finnish word for fairytale.

This is director Renny Harlin's first film to release a director's cut (in this case an "extreme cut") out on DVD.

The original setting was in Chicago, Illinois in Daniel Kunka's original script but Renny Harlin changed the setting in New Orleans.

Originally the dog owned by Molly Porter (Ashely Scott) and Danny Fisher (John Cena) named Shorty was going to be a bulldog. The producers changed the dog to a pug when the filming was done as pugs can be mistaken for bulldogs.

Renny Harlin's first film to direct with his production company Midnight Sun Pictures.

Renny Harlin's son Lucas appears as the little boy with the hat in the street car.

According to Renny Harlin on the DVD commentary that all the producers were against having a pug in the movie until Renny pitched it to John Cena who thought it was a great idea. Daniel Kunka explains on his own DVD commentary that when Renny pitched the pug, he was against it so much that he decided that it would be a Bulldog and kept that in the script until Renny changed it to the pug.

Renny Harlin: [Finland] Numerous reference to Renny Harlin's native Finland, such as the mentioning of Helsinki in dialog, a Finnish flag on the side of a motor home at the location of a car crashing into a boat, etc etc.

If you look closely at the dead body of Erica (Taylor Cole) you can see tears coming out of her right eye. Renny Harlin makes a note about that on the DVD commentary.

Ashley Scott co-starred with another wrestler turned actor Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson in Walking Tall (2004).