1. The 36th animated movie released by Disney, Mulan was the first to beryllium produced chiefly successful Florida astatine the Disney animation workplace astatine Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios). 

2. More than 700 animators worked for 5 years on Mulan, which is based connected a 2,000 twelvemonth aged Chinese legend. Development connected the movie began successful 1994, when production sent a group of creator supervisors to China for 3 weeks for inspiration and to larn much astir the culture. 

3. The archetypal draught of Mulan was a romanticist comedy, with a misfit Mulan moving away after her begetter arranges for her to beryllium engaged to Li Shang. However, when writer Chris Sanders was brought successful to enactment connected the screenplay, helium urged the originative squad to stay much faithful to the archetypal legend. 

4. Tia Carrere was initially considered to dependable the rubric character. Then Lea Salonga, who provided the singing dependable of Princess Jasmine successful Aladdin, was formed to supply some Mulan's speaking and singing voices. 

5. While Salonga inactive performed Mulan's songs, Ming-Na Wen was aboriginal brought successful to talk the relation aft filmmakers didn't find Salonga's attempts to deepen her dependable arsenic Ping to beryllium convincing. Wen was formed aft producers heard her narration in The Joy Luck Club.

"When we heard Ming-Na doing that voice-over, we knew we had our Mulan," shaper Pam Coats told The Deseret News successful 1998. "She has a precise likable and beauteous voice, and those are the qualities we were looking for."

6. BD Wong was formed as Captain Li Shang, though Donny Osmond provided the character's singing dependable successful "I'll Make a Man Out of You." Osmond had antecedently been considered to dependable the titular quality successful Hercules.

7. Jackie Chan voiced Li Shang successful the Chinese mentation of the movie.

8. Hoping to find a drama prima to dependable Mulan's fast-talking dragon sidekick Mushu akin to Aladdin casting Robin Williams as Genie, the filmmakers considered Joe Pesci, Steve Martin and Sinbad for the relation earlier Eddie Murphy signed on. 

9. However, Murphy astir passed connected the movie erstwhile he was initially asked to bash his recordings for the dependable of Mushu successful an existent studio. "We tin grounds it successful my basement," Murphy recalled telling Disney successful a interrogation with The Chicago Sun-Times. Ultimately, Murphy recorded his portion astatine his location successful Englewood, New Jersey.

10. Mushu had his ain opus successful the archetypal script, but the tune was scrapped aft Murphy was cast, according to lyricist David Zippel.

"We wrote 3 antithetic versions of it," Zippel told Entertainment Weekly. "But that's due to the fact that we didn't recognize astatine that constituent that it wasn't that [Eddie Murphy] wasn't liking our songs, helium conscionable didn't privation to sing successful the film."

11. "I'll Make a Man Out of You" is 1 of the movie's breakout songs, yet composer Matthew Wilder admitted to EW that helium "never thought" it would go arsenic fashionable arsenic it did.

"It was a grooming sequence, and whether you're talking Private Benjamin or GI Jane, [imagine] taking that and putting it into an Asian motif," Wilder explained of the upbeat tune. "We were trying to wed the thought of that hyper-masculinity arsenic if it were a Marine moment, but alternatively of it being Marines, it was the Chinese army."

12. Wilder and Zippel revealed to EW that they had to combat "tooth and nail" to support "Reflection" successful the last mentation of the movie aft filmmakers considered cutting the ballad altogether.

13. The end-credits opus "True to Your Heart" was initially written for Hanson to perform. But erstwhile a woody with the lad set fell through, Stevie Wonder yet sang the track.

14. Directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook marque cameos arsenic the firework lighting men astatine the extremity of the film.

15. Mulan is the lone Disney Princess who isn't really royalty. She wasn't born a royal, nor did she wed a prince.

16. After a decennary spent successful development, a live-action adaptation directed by Niki Caro and starring Yifei Liu successful the rubric relation was released in September 2020. 

17. One quality who didn't marque the modulation from animation to live-action was Mushu.

"Mushu, beloved arsenic that quality is successful the animation, was Mulan's confidante and portion of bringing it into unrecorded enactment is to perpetrate to the realism of her travel and she had to marque those relationships with her chap soldiers," Caro explained to USA Today. "So, determination was surely a batch to enactment with successful that department."