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The name "Particicution" is a play on the name "Participaction", a government corporation founded by Pierre Trudeau in 1972 in an attempt to get Canadians into fitness. The corporation lasted until 2000 in Margaret Atwood's homeland of Canada.
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In the book, the story takes place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, predominantly in Harvard Square, on the Harvard campus, and in the general area. Harvard Square is a terribly busy place, however, and it would have been almost impossible to clear the Square for the scenes in question. In addition, Harvard University has a "no filming" policy that prohibits any filming from taking place on their campus. North Carolina substituted.
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In the original source novel, the main character is known only by her patronymic, "Offred" (or "of Fred," since she "belongs" to a Commander named Fred); her real name is never revealed, though many readers believe it may be June, based on various subtle hints in the text. However, the filmmakers chose Kate as her pre-Gileadean name, and choose to state it clearly.
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The repressive theocratic regime that has taken over the US in this movie (and its source novel) is called "The Republic of Gilead." Gilead is a place (or maybe several places) mentioned repeatedly in the Bible (first in Genesis 31:23), both as a geographic location and the source of a figurative or literal "balm" (curative or healing substance). Based on those constant Bible references, there is a well-known spiritual, "There is a Balm in Gilead," that is in the hymnals of many Christian denominations, and in the book The Handmaid's Tale, Offred remembers the hymn and makes a joke about it.
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