Captain Love has a severed head in a glass container. In The Silence of the Lambs (1991), also starring Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster finds a severed head in a glass container.
Alejandro Murrieta, disguised as Zorro, offers water to an exhausted worker at the mine in the final sequence of the film. This moment mirrors a classic moment from Ben-Hur when Jesus offers water to the enslaved Judah Ben-Hur, and in both cases a "savior" is involved. The dipper used looks remarkably similar in both films.
The character of Don Diego/Zorro has always supposed to have been Spanish, yet has never been portrayed by a Spanish actor. In this film, Antonio Banderas is the first Spanish actor to portray Zorro, but, ironically, this is the new Murrietta/Zorro, who is supposed to be Mexican in the movie.
Originally, Anthony Hopkins refused the part of Don Diego de la Vega because he had too much pain in his back. A laser operation made an end on the pain and made it possible for him to accept the part.
After watching Ardilla roja, La (1993), Stanley Kubrick advised Steven Spielberg to hire Julio Medem to direct this movie. Spielberg contacted Medem but the Spanish filmmaker rejected the job and preferred to keep working in more personal projects.
While posing as a servant, Don Diego goes by the name Bernardo. In The Mark of Zorro (1920) and in the Disney television series, "Zorro" (1957) Bernardo was the name of Don Diego's mute servant who frequently pretended to also be deaf as a ruse to help Diego.
The scene in the church is an homage to The Mark of Zorro (1940) in which Zorro pretends to be a priest and hears a confession from his lady love who proceeds to fall for the masked bandit.
In the scene in the dungeon when they are trying to find Zorro among the old prisoners, they rise up and proclaim "I am Zorro!". This parallels a scene in Spartacus (1960) with 'Kirk Douglas' , Catherine Zeta-Jones's father-in-law.
In order to accomplish the effect of Elena's dress falling off from being sliced up by Zorro, a wire was attached to the dress to pull the dress off. (See also the goofs section.)
Izabella Scorupco was offered the lead female role but turned it down
Joaquin Murieta, Antonio Banderas's character's brother, and Three-fingered Jack were real life bandits in Northern California at the time of the 1849 Gold Rush. Joaquin Murieta was a Mexican born in Sonora who moved to California to find his fortune. But after being beaten and robbed by American gold miners, he swore that he would avenge his dishonor. He was the lead in a group of bandits in the California wilderness, killing anyone who stood in their way. His life was the stuff of legend, used by Mexicans as a source of patriotism and by Americans as reason enough to hang anyone who spoke Spanish. Three-fingered Jack was actually a Mexican by the name of Manuel Garcia, who was Murieta's side kick. Murieta was supposedly killed on July 18, 1853 by Captain Harry Love who preserved Murieta's head in a jar of alcohol, along with Three-fingered Jack's hand as proof that the bandit was dead.
Robert Rodriguez was originally attached to direct, but the studio didn't agree with his much-more violent and R-rated proposal.
The DVD includes an alternate ending where Alejandro and Elena meet General Santa Anna while walking away from the mine with all the rescued prisoners. Joaquim de Almeida plays Santa Anna in this scene.
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