The film was shot on location in Jamaica and Nanuya Levu, a privately-owned island in Fiji, whilst the blue lagoon scenes were shot in Champagne Bay, Vanuatu. The flora and fauna featured in the film were entirely out of place for the island setting. The director utilized a bizarre array of animals from multiple continents. Wranglers even daubed paint on docile iguanas to give them an exotic appearance. As it turned out, the iguanas filmed on Fiji were a species hitherto unknown to science; this was noted by the herpetologist John Gibbons when he watched the movie, and he described the Fiji Crested Iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis) in 1981.
In the DVD version of this film, it was stated that many of Brooke Shields’ nude scenes were in fact done by older body doubles. In addition, the film’s stunt coordinator Kathy Troutt was one of the body doubles as well as the dolphin trainer. It was also stated that Brooke Shields had done many of her topless scenes with her hair glued to her breasts.
