Roland Emmerich came up with the idea for Independence Day while promoting Stargate in Europe in 1994, after a reporter asked him why he made a film about aliens if he didn't believe in them; he told Dean Devlin he had an idea for their next film.

Emmerich and Devlin wanted to avoid the cliché of alien invasion films where aliens travel across the galaxy only to hide in a field, so they decided their aliens would make a big, large-scale entrance instead.

Emmerich and Devlin wrote the script during a month-long vacation in Mexico, and just one day after submitting it, 20th Century Fox chairman Peter Chernin greenlit the film, with pre-production starting only three days later.

The U.S. military initially agreed to provide personnel, vehicles, and costumes for the production, but withdrew its support when the producers refused to remove the script's Area 51 references.

The role of Captain Steven Hiller was originally offered to Ethan Hawke, who turned it down because he thought the script was terrible; Devlin and Emmerich had always envisioned an African-American actor for the part and specifically wanted Will Smith after seeing him in Six Degrees of Separation.

Jada Pinkett Smith turned down the role of Jasmine Dubrow in favor of appearing in The Nutty Professor instead.

Harry Connick Jr. took over the role of Captain Jimmy Wilder after Matthew Perry was originally cast in the part.

The character Julius Levinson was based on one of Dean Devlin's uncles, while the character of Dr. Brackish Okun was based on the appearance and verbal style of visual effects supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun, who had worked with Emmerich on Stargate.

Robert Loggia modeled his portrayal of General William Grey on World War II generals, particularly George S. Patton.

During filming of President Whitmore's pre-battle speech in Wendover, Devlin and Bill Pullman decided on the spot to add the line 'Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!' hoping it would help convince Fox executives to secure the film's title, since Warner Bros. originally owned the rights due to a 1983 film of the same name; the production was nicknamed 'ID4' until the rights were won two weeks later.

The White House interior sets used in the film had originally been built for The American President and had also previously been used in Nixon.

The production reused other existing sets to save money, including the B-3 stealth bomber cockpit from Broken Arrow and submarine sets from Down Periscope and Crimson Tide.

The film's climactic scene of Russell Casse's sacrifice was originally shot with him stealing a missile and tying it to his red biplane for a suicide mission, but after test audiences responded well to its irony, the scene was reshot to show him being accepted as a volunteer pilot and flying an F/A-18 instead.

Independence Day required a then-record of over 3,000 special effects shots, achieved mostly through practical, in-camera effects and miniatures rather than CGI in order to save money and get more authentic pyrotechnic results.

The production built more miniatures than any film before it, including a 30-foot destroyer model, a 12-foot mothership model, and a detailed White House miniature that took a week to plan and required 40 explosive charges to destroy.

To create the film's iconic 'wall of destruction' effect, miniature city streets were tilted upright beneath a high-speed camera and filmed as explosions below sent flames rising to engulf the model.

Production designer Patrick Tatopoulos designed the aliens to be small, delicate creatures wearing 8-foot-tall bio-mechanical suits with 25 tentacles, purposely built so it would not appear to be a person simply wearing a costume.

Composer David Arnold recorded the Grammy Award-winning score with a 90-piece orchestra and a 46-person choir, prompting producer Dean Devlin to joke that it took a Brit to write some of the most patriotic music in American cinema history.

In Lebanon, scenes involving Jewish content were censored, including one showing Judd Hirsch's character leading a Jewish prayer and footage of Israeli and Arab troops working together; the group Hezbollah called for a boycott of the film, which actor Jeff Goldblum publicly criticized as missing the film's point about teamwork among different nations.

Independence Day became the highest-grossing film of 1996 and the second-highest-grossing film of all time at release, behind only Jurassic Park, ultimately earning over $817 million worldwide.

Empire magazine readers voted President Whitmore's rousing speech the 'Cheesiest Movie Moment of All-Time' in 2003, despite the film originally receiving a five-star review from Empire critic Kim Newman.

The film was scheduled to air on Fox on September 16, 2001, but the broadcast was cancelled following the September 11 attacks and replaced with a repeat of There's Something About Mary.