When Catherine Jones was filming from the hatch of a light armored vehicle as the patrol traveled through Kandahar City, the soldiers noticed that she was attracting too much attention and ordered her down. Without being asked, Warrant Officer Bill Mikkelsen took up the camera. His footage is seen on the way to Dand District Center, during which the patrol was struck by an IED. There were no injuries.
The title, "15:13" was named from the Book of John, chapter and verse, "Greater love hath no man than this. That a man lay down his life for his friends."
Catherine Jones claims that it took a lot of vodka to come up with the title.
While overseas, all soldiers were made to "pinky swear" not to divulge the meaning of the title to any civilian. All but one soldier complied.
Warrant Officer Bill Mikkelsen is the only person the filmmaker met, including clergy, who knew that the origin of the title stemmed from the Book of John. He opens the movie by stating, "...that we're not here just to fight for Canada's rights, but for the guy to the left and to the right of us..."