Neither Romola Garai nor Diego Luna had any professional dance training. They spent ten weeks in Puerto Rico before production began, training eight hours a day with producer JoAnn Fregalette Jansen and four additional dancers and choreographers
The plot is loosely based on the life story of producer JoAnn Fregalette Jansen, who moved to Cuba with her family in 1958. Thus, the "Based on True Events" title.
Diego Luna is not a trained dancer, but learned the dances he needed for the movie in about six weeks. He has said that normally, he dances best with a few beers in him.
The movie was filmed in Puerto Rico, and made to look like Cuba. Most of it was done in the colonial part of San Juan, Old San Juan, a very popular hangout for Puerto Ricans, and a very touristy area. In order to maintain the look and esthetic of the pre-Cuban revolution era, producers secured underground parking places for people that would visit Old San Juan during the shoot, so that there wouldn't be any modern cars parked in the streets.
Miranda Garrison, the assistant choreographer, and actress of "bungalow bunny" Vivian Pressman for Dirty Dancing (1987), served as the assistant choreographer and a featured dancer in this movie, making her and Patrick Swayze the only performers seen in both movies.