Author of the Sharpe books, Bernard Cornwell has stated that a popular idea among the cast was that the next film would open up with Obadiah returning from the grave. Cornwell has also stated that he has long regretted killing off Hakeswill, for as he puts it, 'Useful villains are hard to come by'.
Especially obvious in the scene where Sharpe meets Captain Fredrickson for the first time is a patch on Sharpe's left arm saying "VS" in a wreath. This stands for Valiant Stormer and was a patch awarded to those soldiers and officers who had survived being part of a Forlorn Hope during a siege attack, as Sharpe had been in Sharpe's Company
Tony Haygarth makes the first of his two appearances as two different characters in the Sharpe chronicles. He becomes the first and only actor to portray two different leading "baddies" in the series with his second outing in Sharpe's Justice (1997) when he played the corrupt industrialist, Parfitt.
According to author Bernard Cornwell, Pot-au-feu was a real person; a renegade French sergeant acting as marshal of a group of English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese deserters. However, in the end he was captured by the French, not the English as seen in the novel and movie.
During filming, Elizabeth Hurley was worried that Sean Bean didn't like her, as he barely interacted with her on set. The other cast members had to reassure her that he was a quiet, reserved person.