The movie is a re-edited version of the TV series pilot. It also includes some action scenes from the first season.
At the beginning of the movie Blue Thunder (1983), when Murphy and Lymangood first take off (after Murphy asks "all set"), the camera is shooting up at the belly of the police JetRanger. The registration number beneath the door reads "N2044C". This is the exact aircraft that would became the red-white-blue American Flag chopper "Santini Air" about two years later in 'Airwolf' (1984). The JetRanger has also been used in 'The A-Team' and again in the movie 'Eraser' (1996) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The color, make and model of the 'Airwolf' helicopter was a standard Bell 222 chopper which was black and modified by the attachment of some movie props.
The Airwolf helicopter's military capabilities and technical specifications, according to it home video sleeve notes, are as follows: It is a ''...billion dollar helicopter equipped with a twin-turbine drum rotor system capable of propelling it to 300 knots'' combined with having ''14 firepower options''.
The name of the government agency which developed the Airwolf helicopter was ''The Firm''.