It took several years for him to get financing and resolve the technical problems of filming with cameras that could withstand more than 3 g for actual competition-level maneuvers.

[a] Director Barry Brown, who also produced the film, co-wrote the story, and designed the aerial sequences, is a pilot and aeronautic engineer.

Two Pitts biplanes were specially built by Aerotek-Pitts in Afton, Wyoming, to include lightweight built-in cameras, able to resist up to 12 g, invented by Brown.

The scene in which Brad Randolph takes Helen St. Clair for her first aerobatic ride was the first time actress Jennifer O'Neill had that experience.

It is reported that actor Joseph Bottoms became so fascinated with flying that he gained his pilot's license, and went solo during production in a Decathlon.

As for David Carradine, he learned to taxi a Pitts, and during the many acrobatic maneuvers in which he flew in the back seat of the airplane to film his acting and facial distortions, he endured severe airsickness.

[1][5][6][7]: 63–64 The aircraft featured in Cloud Dancer included a single-seat S-1S and a two-seat S-2A Pitts Specials as the airplanes piloted by the leading characters through most of the movie.

Also, there can be seen a Ford Trimotor 5-AT, two Boeing B-17, and the Douglas A-4F Skyhawk of the Blue Angels, the United States Navy's aerobatic team.

Reviews and critiques of the movie address its weak and formulaic plot, while praising the cinematography and realistic depiction of the aerobatics discipline.

Leonard Maltin in his Movie Guide gave the film two and a half stars of four, and wrote: "Uneven tale of aerobatic-obsessed Carradine and his relationship with O'Neill.

"[10]: 264 The TV Guide review says: "Although Carradine's quietly anti-heroic ways are intriguing, the filmmakers' main interest is in the never-ending aerial sequences, which are indeed beautiful to watch but fail to advance the plot or embellish the emotional tension with meaning.

"[11] Andy Webb from The Movie Scene gave the film three of five stars, and wrote: "(...) "Cloud Dancer" has some of the most spectacular flying cinematography that you end up forgiving it many of its inadequacies because when we are in a plane it blows you away.

[d] Pilot and aviation researcher Simon D. Beck wrote: "A muddled script with a weak narrative is made up for by excellent, innovative aerobatic sequences with a good variety of light aircraft types that capture the art of flying better than most films in this genre.