Michael Thomas Dunn lost 15 pounds, stopped shaving, and employed sleep deprivation for his portrayal of a homeless man.
For a grittier look, director Michael Thomas Dunn did not permit actors to wear makeup while portraying homeless people.
Several scenes were completely improvised.
The movie was filmed in multiple formats including 35mm negative film, 16mm reversal film, Super 8 reversal film, HDTV 480p, DVCam Pro and Analog 8mm Video. A special brace was built so a Sony DVCam Pro and a 16mm Krasnogorsk K3 Camera could be mounted side-by-side to film several action sequences by a single camera operator with a handheld technique. These mixed Film and Video segments are intercut rapidly to give an "erratic look" (edited within 15 frames of each other continuously).
Portions of the park shootout and the final downtown chase had to be filmed at the MTD Studios backlot because of the complexity of the special effects. All other sequences were filmed on location.