The Lightning God Rayden guides warrior Liu Kang, police detective Sonja Blade, and martial arts movie star Johnny Cage to a remote island to compete in the Shaolin Tournament known as Mortal Kombat. If the Outworld wins the Shaolin Tournament ten times in a row, they can enter the Realm of Earth and take over. They have been victorious the last nine times, and with warriors like Scorpion, Sub Zero, and Goro, the future of Earth looks bleak.

Cameron Diaz was originally set to play Sonya Blade, but she broke her wrist before filming and was replaced by Bridgette Wilson.

Ed Boon, co-creator of the original video game "Mortal Kombat," starred as the voice of Scorpion.

The premise of the film is greatly influenced by Enter the Dragon (1973). Note the three fighters, the transition by way of old style boat to an island, the final battle with the old man.

When the chameleon creature takes over the body of an Outworld statue and rises as a green ninja, you can hear, very quietly, a voice say "Reptile". This is the voice of Shao Kahn, and was sampled directly from the game Mortal Kombat II.

Scripted but not filmed was a scene where Shang Tsung allowed the "Kombatants" a night to bury Art Lean and mourn his loss. They buried him the Garden of Statues, underneath the statue of Kung Lao; this is the only place where Kung Lao appears in any of the movies. Also scripted but not filmed was a battle between Sonya Blade (who wins, naturally) and Jade, another of Shang Tsung's bodyguards.

Brandon Lee was originally cast as Johnny Cage, but died before production began.

Among those who auditioned for the role of Liu Kang were Jason Scott Lee, Russell Wong, and Phillip Rhee.

In the video games the character Noob Saibot came from the writers of the game, Ed Boon and John Tobias. Boon=Noob Tobias=Saibot

Jean-Claude Van Damme turned down the role of Johnny Cage to do Street Fighter (1994).

Bridgette Wilson performed all her own stunts (refusing to use a double), up to and including the fight scenes.

The film was originally supposed to end just after Rayden tells Liu Kang and company: "I've gotta tell you something, you guys did great." But a new ending was re-shot and incorporated into the final film, which is when The Emperor (Shao Kahn) suddenly appears and says, "You weak, pathetic fools, I've come for your souls!" To which Rayden replies, "I don't think so." And he and the others prepare for battle.

Error: During the fight between Johnny Cage and Scorpion in the plantation, a car can be seen in the background.

Continuity Error: During the fight in Scorpion's tomb, a hole in the rear of Johnny's pants disappears.

Continuity Error: Liu Kang's hair is suddenly tidy after getting up from being knocked down by Shang Tsung.

Error: There is no water in the bucket full of water that Liu Kang throws at Sub-Zero.

Continuity Error: Sonya is wearing black jeans and then when she is fighting, she had cut them into shorts. Next time you see her, they are jeans again. She entered the boat not knowing of the competition so she did not have any extra clothes with her.

Error: During Liu Kang fight with Reptile, when Liu Kang throws reptile against the wall, you can see the wall bend under the weight, as if made of wood, not stone.

Continuity Error: During the Liu Kang/Sub-Zero fight: while face-down, Sub-Zero's back flap is raised, then falls back down on its own.

Error: When walking through the cobwebs, Liu says, "I don't smell anything," but his mouth does not move.

There are small circles containing symbols shown throughout the credits. These are intended to be used in this order (as a so-called "Kombat Kode") to obtain some special effect in the video game "Mortal Kombat 3"

After all of the credits have rolled, you hear Emperor Shao Khan, from the games, say "Excellent!  *maniacal laugh*!!!  Flawless victory!"

The TBS Superstation version removes some of the more violent sound effects, e.g. bones crunching or arms twisting, and also two bad words... The "I smell something" comment is followed by silence and the obscenity can only be seen being said. Also, complete removal of the offensive word after, "Those were $500 sunglasses", which worked out fine.

UK version removes chainstick footage; it is cut by three seconds.

An HBO "first look" program showed an alternative death for Scorpion. Instead of exploding after the shield toss, he falls off a platform and onto a spike in an emulation of the classic pit death scene from the video game series.

The Fox Broadcast version replaced the infamous "Those were $500.00 sunglasses asshole!" line with an alternative take of Johnny Cage saying "Man, are you ugly!".

When released in 2003 in the UK, all previous BBFC cuts were waived.