The bees were bred specifically for this movie. They needed to make sure that the bees were only twelve hours old, so that they looked like mature bees, but their stinger wouldn't be powerful enough to do any real damage.
Exterior, hallway, and stairway scenes were actually filmed for a few days in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects, though the producers had to make a deal with the ruling gang members to put them in the movie as extras to ensure the cast and crew's safety during filming. Even with this arrangement, a sniper put a bullet through the production van on the last day of filming, though no one was injured.
While investigating one of Candyman's crime scenes, Helen and Bernadette discover that the design of the apartment's medicine cabinet made it a possible point of entry for an intruder. This was not a made-up piece of horror movie fiction. While researching the film, Bernard Rose learned that a series of murders had been committed in Chicago in this very way.
In Slashers Part 1 (2018), Tony Todd said he was stung by bees 26 times during the space of the Candyman trilogy.
Tony Todd negotiated a bonus of $1,000 for every bee sting he suffered during filming; he was stung 23 times.