There was allegedly a comic book that bridged the gap between Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) and this film. It followed Jason after he was dipped in toxic waste in a New York City sewer, walked his way back to Crystal Lake. It also supposedly explains why the FBI has a task force specifically for Jason, but producer Sean S. Cunningham and director Adam Marcus have stated that they made Jason Goes to Hell as a follow-up to the original Friday the 13th (1980), and mostly ignored everything from Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) to Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989).
(at around 1h 18 mins) In the film, just before he handcuffs himself to Jason and a part of immovable furniture, Creighton Duke says "Son of a Bitch, you remember me?". In the final film, this sounds nonsensical. In the audio commentary on the DVD and Blu-ray, it is revealed that the script at one point had it that Jason killed Duke's girlfriend. His backstory initially explained that he was canoeing with his girlfriend in Camp Crystal Lake before Jason emerged from the water and dragged his girlfriend down into the lake. This is what led to his career in the police force, dedicating his life to hunting down Jason for revenge. This was ultimately cut from the film.
Michael B. Silver and Michelle Clunie, who play Luke and Deborah, the couple who have sex in the tent, had been a couple in real life, but broke up shortly before being cast. This made for some initial awkwardness when had to spend hours stark naked and simulating sex.
One early concept for this movie was "Jason Goes To L.A" in which two rival gangs would be fighting. When Jason would show up and start murdering them, the rival gangs to band together to defeat Jason.
When Creighton Duke is being interviewed and he demands $500,000 for the capture of Jason, he says, "For that, you get the mask, the machete, the whole damn thing." This is a reference to Jaws (1975) when Quint demands $10,000 to kill the shark. He says, "For that, you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing."