Nick Offerman (Joe's father) and Megan Mullally (Patrick's mother) are actually real life husband and wife.
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts brought in cast member and improviser Craig Cackowski prior to shooting in order to teach the young cast basic improv techniques. Vogt-Roberts wanted the actors "living in the skin of the characters" between takes. The director would then secretly film the actors between takes, in order to capture a more natural, authentic camaraderie. He had a code word for his crew to secretly start rolling. According to actor Marc Evan Jackson, much of this vérité footage made the final cut.
Chris Galletta's script was featured on The Black List (an annual comprehensive list of Hollywood's best unproduced scripts) in 2009. Other notable scripts featured on the list that year include The Social Network (2010), Willkommen in Cedar Rapids (2011), and Take This Waltz (2011).
At one point, Biaggio (Moises Arias) says he thinks he's gay because his "lungs fill up every time the seasons change," after which Joe (Nick Robinson) says, "That's not being gay ... pretty sure that's cystic fibrosis." In Drei Schritte zu dir (2019), Arias plays Poe, gay character who has cystic fibrosis.