Continuity mistake: At the conference, when the President is announced, there is a wide shot of the crowd and you see a lot of people standing in the background against the wall. There are also several spotlights turned on. Then it cuts to the stage where Frank and the squad are walking. When it cuts back to the crowd all the people in the background are gone and the spotlights are switched off. The crowd reappears later and the spotlights are on again. (01:00:50)
Continuity mistake: When Frank is driving the tank, a dog house is connected to the tank with a chain. You can see the chain is connected inside the dog house. When it cuts the chain is connected to the corner of the dog house. (00:32:30)
Visible crew/equipment: Crew member visible in the lower left corner operating "Hector Savage" when he is swelling up with the water. (00:47:50)
Revealing mistake: About half an hour into the movie, when Frank is in the tank, he plows into a supposedly concrete zoo wall, which wobbles. Also, the wall splinters where it meets the sidewalk, revealing that the "wall" is actually a wood prop, and a flimsy one at that. Five seconds later, when people and animals are shown running out, the same wall is shown with a different shaped hole and pieces of concrete lying around it. Apparently the concrete pieces aren't too real either, as the camel kicks one around as easy as if it were made of foam. (00:30:25)
Deliberate mistake: When Ed's looking at the drawings done by the sketch artist near the start, he's flipping over a book of them. Trouble is that they all end up facing the camera, meaning that Ed must have been looking at the blank side - we see the blank pages briefly as he flips them. (00:14:30)
Continuity mistake: When Frank and Jane are trying to stop the atomic bomb, Frank's jacket is aspired by the mechanism. He's still wearing his jacket when he is on the stage making a speech. (01:16:45)
Audio problem: Just after Quentin Hapsburg is accused as a criminal at the president Bush reception by Captain Ed Hocken, Frank opens his mariachi disguise and says "Let's go". In the version dubbed to Spanish, Frank loses his voice when he pronounces this words.
Revealing mistake: When Frank drops his helmet into the machinery below him, cogwheels start flying. Then it cuts to a closeup of Frank and a cogwheel suddenly strikes the roof right in front of him. However it is obvious that the cogwheel comes through the roof from above and not from the machinery below. (00:15:05)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, Frank kisses and old woman by accident during his speech. The woman disappears during a few shots and reappears on the balcony. (01:19:35)
Suggested correction: The old woman, Barbara Bush, is simply off camera standing next to her husband, George Bush. She had plenty of time to step back to be next to him when we get a shot of Jane. The balcony scene isn't a continuous shot though. And she's back because she's with George Bush on the balcony.
Continuity mistake: The red Ford van the bomber drives (I think Econoline) changes to the different year's model in the middle. You can see this difference by watching the seal 'FORD' in front of the van.
Continuity mistake: When Frank is fighting with Savage in the bathroom, he gets a towel thrown on his head. When he pulls the towel off his hair is messed up. When you see him again a second later, his hair is neatly combed (but with no particular reference to it as a joke, unlike towards the end when he miraculously gets clean and acts surprised). (00:47:05)
Factual error: The movie takes place in Washington D.C, however near the end on the roof, a warehouse in the background says "Van Nuys", which is in California.
Continuity mistake: When we first see the Meinheimer Institute, it's at night and stormy. The capitol building is in the background. When Frank pulls up the next day, the Washington Monument is in its place.
Visible crew/equipment: When Nordberg gets stuck under Frank's car, they take off. The camera and a film equipment are visible in the window.
Continuity mistake: When Barbara Bush walks in to the dining room at the beginning she is dazed and walks up to the table. Next shot she is walking to table less dazed but well behind where she was in the previous shot. (00:02:10)
Continuity mistake: When Frank goes to the bar depressed after meeting Jane again, the establishing shot shows four portraits. The two middle ones change when the waiter appears.
Revealing mistake: When Frank and Hector are fighting near the fire hose, Frank is pushed into the wall. It wobbles.
Continuity mistake: When the guard is reading the tabloid paper, he has it fully open (so that he's holding the back page in his right hand) and starts to turn the page. In the next shot, when he's startled, all of the suddenly the paper is closed so that the "spine" is now in his right hand.
Factual error: The movie takes place in Washington D.C, however the sequence with Hector Savage held up at his house was filmed in Los Angeles. This is obvious as the sequence features palm trees, and mountains are visible at times.
