This was Denmark's first win in the pageant's history. Contestants from a record countries and territories competed in the pageant, surpassing the previous record of 94 entrants set in In September , during the Tanner Fletcher show at New York Fashion Week , Miss Universe R'Bonney Gabriel confirmed that the Miss Universe Organization had removed age restrictions for contestants over the age of 18, which were introduced following the pageant.
Before this, the pageant had restricted participation to women between ages 18β28 on the year of the pageant, outside of special circumstances. Also, height and weight restrictions were removed. Franki Russell was initially appointed as the representative for New Zealand. Fay Asghari was the original winner of the Miss Universe Persia pageant, which selects the Iranian representative in Miss Universe. Andrea Radford won Miss Universe Guatemala in July but relinquished her title after becoming pregnant.
Irina Zakharova was originally crowned as Miss Universe Armenia but faced backlash from the Armenian public after being identified as a Russian national.
Emma Heyst originally won the title of Miss Denmark and was entitled to represent Denmark in the Miss Universe competition. Italy Mora of Panama was disqualified during the pageant due to leaving the hotel without consent from the Miss Universe Organization.
However, the fact that the material chosen for the new crown came from the Philippines did not please everyone. The number of semifinalists in this edition increased from twenty to thirty, marking the highest number of semifinalists in the history of the pageant. The preliminary competition, consisting of the swimsuit segment, evening gown and closed-door interviews, determined the semifinalists for the pageant.
