Paul Verhoeven made this movie while he was a conscript in the Dutch army. Because this film was greenlit to commemorate 300 years of Marine Corps, he was given a budget of 100,000 guilders (his previous short movies only cost a couple of thousands), which enabled him to shoot his first color movie.
Paul Verhoeven had made an agreement: he would serve his military service with the Marine Film Service. However, on account of his education in mathematics, he was assigned to the Air Force. As a mathematician he was very well equipped to calculate the trajectory of missiles from Germany to the Kremlin. Verhoeven appealed and was eventually assigned to the Navy where he was asked to shoot a anniversary film on the occasion of the three-hundredth year of existence of the Marine Corps.
Verhoeven was influenced by the James Bond films Dr. No (1962) and Goldfinger (1964). In order to strengthen the James Bond effect, he commissioned the permanent conductor/composer H.C. van Lijnschoten of the Marine Band to write dramatic film music à la John Barry. To inspire him, he gave Van Lijnschoten the LP with James Bond Themes by John Barry as a present.
Verhoeven was looking forward to show the troops cutting through the jungle as they did in David Leans The Bridge on the River Kwai (1975). But to his surprise there wasn't a single forest on Curacao. Thought was given to move to Suriname, but the Dutch marines didn't have a very good reputation over there. The commander of Fort Clayton, the training center for the American marines in Panama, was sympathetic. Within two days a Douglas DC- appeared to transport the film crew plus 'actors' to the Central American jungle. There they boarded a boat, and the river took them to the deepest inlands: the required shots where taken.
The film was awarded the 'Silver Sun' in France for best military film (read: propaganda film).