Like his other films, producer Roger Corman wanted scenes with naked women included. When they approached Krista Allen, she wanted the role, but was in no mood to do any nudity. She had just finished spending several years making seven Emmanuelle films where she spent most of her time stark naked and having simulated sex. Director Dan Golden told her the nudity was non negotiable and she finally but reluctantly agreed. Golden then shot too long scenes of her totally naked in a shower and a fantasy scene of her topless being sacrificed by some ancient Aztecs first because he didn't want to risk her changing her mind later.
Director Dan Golden said the idea for the movie came up when producer Roger Corman said he wanted an "Alien-on-water" story where a creature was killing people on a ship at sea. Problem was, they didn't have a ship and they didn't have the budget to make a creature. So they used one of the raptors from Carnosaur 2 (1995) with a different snake head that John Buechler made and slapped on the body, and they shot on a set that was supposed to be a ship left over from Carnosaur 3 (1996). Golden said the creature looked awful so he only showed it as fleetingly as possible, but Corman kept wanting to show more.
Dan Golden was hired to replace another director ten days before the movie was to begin filming. He hated the script and rewrote most of it with story editor Frances Dole in that time.
Krista Allen described the cheap looking monster costume as "Barney on a bad hair day."
The movie takes place in Mexico but producer Roger Corman wouldn't give them a budget to fly to Mexico and shoot exteriors there. Coincidentally, director Dan Golden was on vacation in Mexico just before shooting started, so he took a 16mm camera with him. He went to archeological sites like Chichen Itza and Cozumel, shot a lot of background footage, and edited it into the movie later.