Because in the wild, male bears usually eat bear cubs if they can, the filmmakers prepared the adult Bart the Bear for the cub by having him play with a teddy bear the size and fur color of the cub. When the trainers felt he was ready, he was introduced to the cub and he greeted the cub affectionately.

Jim Henson's Creature Shop was hired to make five animatronic bears to act as stand-ins for the real ones and to avoid any cruelty to animals. The animatronics were created on a tight schedule and were based on photographs of the actual bears. However, once transported to the set on the slopes of the Dolomites it became apparent that the fake bears didn't resemble the real ones enough. They ended up on screen for only a few seconds.