Before James Caan was cast as the villain DeGuerin, Jonathan Pryce was also considered for the role.

Vanessa Williams was cast as Lee Cullen after Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife at the time, suggested her for the part to the Kopelsons.

Director Chuck Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger were already working on another project together when Eraser was brought to their attention, and Russell saw Kruger as a fitting 'mythic, bigger-than-life' role for the star.

The screenplay went through extensive uncredited rewrites by several prominent screenwriters, including Frank Darabont, Terminator 2 writer William Wisher Jr., Christine Roum, and John Milius, the latter contributing as a favor to Schwarzenegger.

Writer John Pogue also did rewrites on the script, though most of his ideas weren't used; he later went on to direct the film's standalone sequel/reboot, Eraser: Reborn.

Principal photography began on September 13, 1995, in New York City, with locations including the Harlem Rail Yard in the South Bronx, Central Park's Sheep Meadow, and Chinatown, before moving to Washington, D.C.

The Reptile House scene at the New York City Zoo was actually filmed on soundstages built at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.

For the jet-fuselage stunt sequence, Schwarzenegger performed a 65-foot vertical fall and a mid-air back flip himself, a shot that took seven takes to get right.

The jet action sequence combined live action, miniatures, and computer-generated elements that were digitally composited together, with camera angles used to make it appear Kruger drops past the plane's flaming engine.

The Cyrez corporation was originally named 'Cyrex' in the film, but after a protest from microprocessor company Cyrix, the name had to be digitally altered in scenes and dialogue redubbed, though some 'Cyrex' logos remain visible in the finished film.

Vanessa Williams sang the film's theme song, 'Where Do We Go from Here'.

Eraser was one of the first major films released on DVD, being part of the Japanese launch lineup for Warner Home Video's debut of the format on December 20, 1996.

The North American LaserDisc release of the film became notorious for poor manufacturing quality, with many copies suffering from severe laser rot.

The film had the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. Pictures release in Malaysia, a record it held for six years until Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets surpassed it in 2002.