The Cold War setting was chosen, because Director Hal Barwood felt that nazis were used too often in Indiana Jones properties, and a change of setting would benefit the title.

If you enter the password "CHEESE!!" on the Nintendo 64 version, you'll see a photo of LucasArts' Developers.

Originally, the game's story was to involve flying saucers, but the idea of UFOs was vetoed by George Lucas and the concept was reserved for the fourth Indiana Jones film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.