First feature film to contain licensed music of Metallica, something that the band was initially opposed of doing. The band was involved in raising public awareness of the accused. Joe Berlinger would later do a documentary on Metallica in "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster".
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky spent 79 days over a 10-month period filming in the actual Arkansas locales.
In an intermission from Jessie's court case (around the 48 minute mark) some footage of the locale is shown. One of them is of a sign for the Parkview Motel, which offers HBO cable. HBO produced the documentary.