Director John Landis worked on this film for scale in order to keep the budget down. As did co-stars Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, against backend deals.
In one scene, Cab (Joe Morton) mentions that when the Blues Brothers last performed, they caused damages costing $24 million, which was the budget of The Blues Brothers (1980).
The list of names that Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) gives as a reason to not quit ends with Robert K. Weiss, the studio executive who convinced Aykroyd and Landis not to quit the film.
John Landis and Dan Aykroyd were reportedly very unhappy with the changes the studio forced onto the film, even coming close to quitting the project. Shortly after production wrapped on Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), Landis began work on the independent movie Susan's Plan (1998) as a way to cleanse his palate.
Blues Traveler: The band that plays at the motel where the Blues Brothers were staying, with John Popper as the lead vocalist. All four members of the band are credited as "Motel Band".
John Landis: Frank Oz plays the prison warden in this movie, and is credited as "Warden". Oz also played the corrections officer who returned Joliet Jake Blues' personal effects following Jake's prison release in The Blues Brothers (1980). In the latter movie, Oz is credited as "Corrections Officer". Presumably, both characters are the same person, signifying the career progression for the officer, and denoting the passage of a significant period of time.