According to Brion James, around 50 minutes were cut from the final work-print until the released version. James said in an interview, "[Total Recall (1990)] came out a week before [this film] that summer, it made $25 million, became the #1 movie in the country, and the studio panicked because they had invested a lot in the '48 Hours' films, but they felt that at well over two hours, that the movie might be too much. My stuff was in there until one week before the film opened; that is when they cut 25 minutes out of that movie, a week before it opened. It went from around 140 to down around 95 minutes. They said, 'Cut all the behavior, action, comedy . . . '. I lost every major scene I had. That's the last time I ever cared about a movie because I went to the press screening and it was like getting kicked in the stomach, seeing what is not there. I was the third lead and now I looked like a dress extra. All the stuff that they had in the set-up, stuff in the trailer, all those scenes, were gone."
The last of seven Eddie Murphy movies in a row to open at #1 in the box office. His next #1 movie would be The Nutty Professor (1996).
Reportedly, Eddie Murphy's paycheck for 48 Hrs. (1982) was $450,000, while Nick Nolte's salary was $1 million. For this sequel Nolte reportedly got $3 million, and Murphy received $7 million.
Frank McRae was cast as Haden, Nick Nolte's boss, the same part he played in 48 Hrs. (1982). His part was almost completely cut from this picture. In one of the shots in the police precinct, McRae appears on camera for a few seconds. His role was uncredited.
The original workprint was 145 minutes long. It was cut by either Walter Hill or Paramount down to 120 minutes, and a week before its summer theatrical release, an additional 25 minutes were cut out by Paramount, making a final theatrical version 95 minutes long. Frank McRae's reprisal of his role from 48 Hrs. (1982) was entirely cut except for a brief, uncredited shot of him in the background of one scene in the police station. Brion James, also returning from the original, saw his role severely cut down, as well, to create a faster-paced action-comedy. Also removed was a scene partially shown in the theatrical trailer in which Jack explains to Reggie that he has a deadline to track down the Iceman; as such, there is no mention of "48 hours" anywhere in the final film. There are no plans to release a Director's Cut of the film.