The film is based on Ira Levin's novel of the same name, adapted for the screen by Joe Eszterhas, and directed by Phillip Noyce.

The exclusive New York sliver building depicted in the film is fictionally located at 113 East 38th Street, but was actually filmed at the real Morgan Court building at 211 Madison Avenue, a 32-floor structure built in 1985 (now a condominium). While the building's real courtyard was used, the lobby scenes were shot on a Los Angeles film set.

Because the MPAA originally gave the film an NC-17 rating, the filmmakers were forced to conduct extensive reshoots before release, which required changing the identity of the killer.

Director Phillip Noyce stated he had to make 110 edits to the film to avoid an NC-17 rating, primarily by removing scenes of male frontal nudity.

In the original ending, the killer was revealed to be Zeke Hawkins (William Baldwin) instead of Jack Landsford (Tom Berenger), culminating in a helicopter scene over a Hawaiian volcano; the shooting of this final scene actually resulted in a helicopter crash, and the pilot's certificate was temporarily suspended afterward.

The original ending was scrapped and reshot after preview audiences reacted negatively to Carly's character turning morally ambiguous by seemingly covering up Zeke's crimes.

In her 2021 memoir, Sharon Stone recounted—without naming names—that a producer had urged her to sleep with a co-star during filming; in a 2024 interview she revealed the producer was Robert Evans and the co-star was William Baldwin, with Evans allegedly claiming it would improve their onscreen chemistry and save the film.

Despite debuting at No. 1 at the U.S. box office with $12.1 million, the film's take dropped to No. 6 by its second week, and it received generally negative reviews from critics, though it became a major hit on home video, ranking as the 8th most rented film in the U.S. in 1994.