* AwesomeDearBoy: The Naval Aviators who did the actual flying for the film were all excited to be picked because it meant getting to pull stunts that would have otherwise cost them their jobs and even could have resulted in criminal charges being brought against them.[[note]]For example, buzzing the tower in real life is a career ender. For the film, it's an awesome maneuver that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Altman Scott Altman]] got to do nine times.[[/note]] It certainly wasn't for the money, since they only received an extra $23 a day for their contributions.
* BackedByThePentagon: The US Navy backed this film in hopes of boosting recruiting numbers. The film was so successful in doing this that the Navy began setting up recruitment booths right outside theaters so that enthusiastic viewers could sign up immediately.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Some of the scenes on the interior of the USS ''Enterprise'' were filmed on the older USS ''Ranger'', with some of the flight deck scenes filmed on the USS ''Carl Vinson''. ''Ranger'' would go on to stand-in again for the ''Enterprise'' in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.
* CastTheExpert: Real-life American fighter pilots (wearing darkened visors) played enemy [=MiG=] pilots.
* CelebrityVoiceActor: In the Japanese dub done for the [[DuelingDubs Fuji TV network]], Maverick was voiced by the late TV and movie actor Hiroyuki Watanabe, who some toku fans will recognize as Taiga Saejima in ''Series/{{Garo}}'', Gaoh in ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' and Freddie in the live-action version of ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool''.
* ColbertBump: ''Top Gun'' sparked a 500% increase in recruitments to the US Navy.
* ContractualObligationProject: Creator/ValKilmer didn't want to be in the movie at first, but was forced to by contractual obligations. He came to appreciate the role, and even campaigned to appear in ''Film/TopGunMaverick''.
* DeletedScene: The film was originally going to have a scene near the end where Maverick visited [[spoiler:Goose's grave]]. A filmed version of this scene was never released, however stills of what such a scene would have looked like are available on the special edition DVD.
* DirectedByCastMember: This happens in both Latin American Spanish dubs. The first dub was directed by Javier Ponton, who voiced Maverick, while the second one was directed by Creator/JoseAntonioMacias, who voiced Goose.
* DuelingDubs: The movie has two Latin American Spanish dubs. The orignal dub was made at Intersound in Los Angeles in 1986, while the redub was made in Mexico at SDI Media de Mexico in 2007.
* DuelingMovies: With ''Film/IronEagle'', which was produced at the same time. ''Top Gun'' was far more successful, but ''Iron Eagle'' got three sequels, the last going DirectToVideo, decades before [[Film/TopGunMaverick the other movie's own follow-up]].
* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/TomCruise insisted that he get to fly in a real F-14 as a condition of starring in the movie[[note]]This was almost entirely for his own pleasure as they could only get around six minutes of footage per flight due to film limitations. They'd run out the film canister as soon as possible and spend the rest of the flight having fun. Plus, most of the in-cockpit footage was unusable and what little that was properly exposed was almost all discarded because so much of the cast couldn't hide their nausea even behind their masks[[/note]]. The Navy paired Cruise with a pilot named [[NamesToRunAwayFrom "Bozo"]] who made it his personal mission to make sure that Cruise puked on every flight. Cruise frequently tells the story of how, after a particularly hard maneuver, he bent down to vomit into a bag when Bozo threw the plane into a climb so fast that his head was pinned to the cockpit floor by the g-forces.
-->'''Tom Cruise:''' I'm trying to key the radio and trying to say "Bozo! Bozo!" and he goes: "They don't call me 'Bozo' for nothing!"
** The real-life aviators tried to get all of the actors to vomit, and were nearly successful; the only one unscathed was Anthony Edwards.
* FatalMethodActing: Stunt pilot Art Scholl was killed when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a flat spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. Scholl's last words over the radio were "I have a problem -- I have a real problem." The exact cause of the crash was never determined, and neither the aircraft nor Scholl's body were ever recovered. The film is dedicated to him.
* FollowTheLeader:
** This movie was the leader for ''Film/FireBirds'', which had a similar premise, [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace but centered on attack helicopters]], made with the assistance of the Arizona National Guard. Like ''Iron Eagle'', it wasn't as successful. Unlike ''Iron Eagle'', it spawned no sequels.
** It also inspired the short-lived TV series ''Supercarrier'' and the [[LongRunner long-running]] TV series ''Series/{{JAG}}'', as well as multiple air-combat video games.
** The movie ''Film/NavySeals1990'' with Creator/CharlieSheen was requested by the Navy, who hoped it would provide a bump in enlistment the way ''Top Gun'' did. It didn't.
** The Navy also fully supported the production of ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'', as they thought it would do for the submarine service what ''Top Gun'' did for Navy aviation.
* GayPanic: The studio forced Creator/TonyScott to shoot additional scenes, including a love scene, between Maverick and Charlie to try and counteract the copious amounts of homoerotic subtext that permeated the rest of the movie. The chemistry between the male actors still ended up being more memorable.
* HostilityOnTheSet:
** A downplayed version with Creator/TomCruise and Creator/ValKilmer, who, due to EnforcedMethodActing, weren't made to interact with each other at all, so the tension between their characters is the real deal. That said, Kilmer denied on his Website/{{Reddit}} page that outside of that there was any actual tension.
--->He was a sweet heart. We were all quite rowdy me and all the real flyboys and the actors, so I actually felt a little sorry for him cause we all had time to play and date the cute extras and zoom around San Diego in muscle cars, but Tom was always in some scene and never go to play with us...
** Neither actor was particularly popular with the Navy pilots who flew them around.
** While the cast was filming on the aircraft carrier, Rick Rossovich (Slider) expressed concern about berthing too close to the ship's nuclear reactors. He ended up getting into a heated argument with the captain, who in turn kicked him off the ship.
* InMemoriam: The film is dedicated to the memory of longtime Hollywood stunt pilot Art Scholl, who died during the filming of some sequences from civilian aircraft when a biplane he was flying crashed off the Pacific Coast.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: There has never been an official release of Music/HaroldFaltermeyer's full score for the film. Two pieces of the score appear on the current soundtrack album, but the complete score has yet to be released.
* LifeImitatesArt: The F-5s "playing" the part of [=MiG-28s=] in flat black paint jobs were planes from the actual seminar. They kept the paint job after filming was done.
* PopCultureUrbanLegends: Creator/TomCruise and Creator/KellyMcGillis are rumoured to have hated each other on set. This has never been directly confirmed in any interview, and [=McGillis=] (not one for withholding her opinion) has spoken fondly about Cruise in recent interviews, saying she enjoyed working with him.
* RealLifeWritesTheHairstyle: When Kelly [=McGillis=] was called back for reshoots, she'd dyed her hair brown for ''Film/MadeInHeaven''. Note that she wears a baseball cap in the elevator scene.
* RealitySubtext: The tension between Maverick and Iceman isn't just down to good acting. Creator/TomCruise and Creator/ValKilmer really disliked each other and wouldn't socialise or interact with one another. Like their characters, however, they became friends later, and Cruise insisted that Kilmer be hired for the sequel, flat-out telling the producers that he wouldn't do the film unless Kilmer was brought in.
* TheRedStapler:
** Jackets and Ray-Bans like the ones in the film experienced a peak in sales after the movie came out.
** The Navy started putting recruitment booths in the theaters showing the film, as enlistments saw a 500% bump. Unfortunately, everyone coming to the recruiting booth after seeing the movie wanted to be a fighter pilot, and many were extremely disappointed to find out they didn't qualify, either for physical reasons (vision problems, etc.) or because they didn't have a college degree. The reason enlistments saw a 500% bump despite this is because the Navy recruiters did a masterful job of redirecting the majority of them into other career fields.
* RomanceOnTheSet: Creator/MegRyan and Creator/AnthonyEdwards actually became an item after filming concluded.
* ScullyBox: Creator/TomCruise had to wear lifts in his scenes with Kelly [=McGillis=]. Cruise is 5'7", while [=McGillis=] is 5'10".
* SparedByTheCut: Cougar was supposed to have crashed while trying to land back on the carrier, and his death was supposed to be why Maverick "slid into Cougar's spot", but this version was cut by the Navy. As the movie was intended to be a recruitment tool for the Navy, they didn't want attention drawn to a particularly hazardous aspect of serving on a carrier or flying fighter jets.
* ShownTheirWork: The [=MiG=]-28s are F-5 Tigers, which the real Top Gun used as aggressors to simulate dogfights against a [=MiG=]-21 FISHBED, which is the airplane being targeted in the official Top Gun patch.
* ThrowItIn:
** Iceman biting his gum and snapping his jaw at the end of the locker room scene was not scripted. Creator/ValKilmer just did it, effectively getting the final word over Creator/TomCruise.
** When the students are being briefed by Charlie in the hanger, Maverick explains that he gave "the bird" to a [=MiG=]. She asks how he saw the [=MiG=] up close, and he says he was flying inverted. Kilmer ad-libbed the "bullshit" cough, which got the other actors to start laughing.
* UncreditedRole: Warren Skaaren and Chip Proser did uncredited rewrites on the screenplay.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Soundtrack-related:
*** Music/BryanAdams was approached to use his song, "Only the Strong Survive," but he refused since he felt that the film glorified war.
*** Music/KennyLoggins was not the first choice to record the song "Danger Zone" for the film. Music/{{Starship}}, Music/{{Toto}}, and Music/REOSpeedwagon were all considered prior to Loggins. But Starship pulled out, the film's producers got in legal hot water with Toto, and REO lead singer Kevin Cronin felt he couldn't hit the higher notes in the song. Music/CoreyHart was also approched, but didn't want to sing a song he didn't write himself.
*** Music/JudasPriest was approached to use "Reckless" as the end credits song. The band believed the movie would be a flop and turned down the request, so "Danger Zone" became its replacement. Rob Halford regrets this decision heavily, having said that while watching the movie in theaters the movie was much better than he expected and that their decision had cost them one of the biggest opportunities of their career.
*** Just before the film started production, one of the producers announced that they wanted to use the Music/BruceSpringsteen song "Born in the USA", but attempts to secure the song were unsuccessful. Just as well, [[MisaimedFandom given that the song wasn't meant to be patriotic]].
** Maverick's first real name was "Evan", but it was changed to Pete as a homage to Pete Pettigrew, who worked on the movie.
** Goose's [[spoiler: death scene]] was originally supposed to have him [[spoiler: perish in a flaming crash aboard an aircraft carrier]] but the Navy objected and the training accident was used instead.
** Creator/MatthewModine turned down the role of Maverick because he objected to the film's Cold War politics. Creator/KevinBacon, Creator/NicolasCage, Creator/JimCarrey, Creator/JohnCusack, Creator/RobertDowneyJr, Creator/EmilioEstevez, Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/MichaelJFox, Creator/TomHanks, Creator/SeanPenn, Creator/EricStoltz and Creator/PatrickSwayze all turned it down. Creator/RobLowe and Creator/RalphMacchio were also considered. Creator/CharlieSheen (who was deemed too young for the role) would later go on to spoof the role in ''Film/HotShots''. Creator/JohnTravolta was rejected for being deemed box-office poison.
** Creator/AllySheedy was offered the role of Charlie, but turned it down, because she didn't think anyone would want to see a movie about fighter planes. Creator/JodieFoster, Creator/LindaHamilton, Creator/DarylHannah, Creator/DianeLane, Creator/TatumONeal and Creator/SarahJessicaParker all turned down the role. Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/BrookeShields, Julianne Philips and Creator/DemiMoore were also considered for the role, with Philips going so far as to having been scheduled to perform a screen test opposite Tom Cruise, while Moore also tested for the role.
** Both Creator/JohnCarpenter and Creator/DavidCronenberg turned down the chance to direct.
** Creator/JonVoight was considered for Viper.
** Creator/MickeyRourke turned down a role.
** Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood's character metamorphosed out of a character called Kirsten Lindstrom. She was originally a classic bimbo. Dawn Steel, then head of Paramount Pictures, allegedly refused to authorise the project until she was made into a more real, intelligent woman.
** Most of the footage of the cast in flight was going to be being filmed in real [=F-14s=] flying high-g maneuvers. But after a week, Tony Scott put an end to this costly technique[[note]]it was costing the production $7600 an hour[[/note]] because everyone looked too nauseous and sickly, and shot most of the cockpit sequences on the ground.
** The film was shot in the Super 35 format, as anamorphic lenses were too large to fit inside the cockpits of the fighter jets, and the cameras would fall off their mounts when the fighter jets maneuvered on their sides.
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