The film took 15 years to make. Seven years of footage had to be dumped after a tenant trashed Zahedi's Los Angeles apartment, one of the movie's primary locations.
When the completed project was rejected by Sundance, Zahedi tried to distribute the film himself. It was only after he won the Gotham Award, for "Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You," that producers began returning his calls, and IFC picked up the film.
Actress Rebecca Lord was deported to France mid-production, requiring a weekend dash to Paris to film her final scenes. The rest of the film was completed in San Francisco.