The neighborhood in which Friday is set is the same South Central Los Angeles area in which F. Gary Gray spent his childhood. Principle houses that were used for filming were houses of old friends of Gray. The scene where Deebo (Tom Lister Jr.) punches Red (DJ Pooh) causing him to fly through the air is Gray's childhood home.
This movie was filmed in twenty days.
The film was shot on 126th Street and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles, known territory of the Crips street gang. The Crips are known for wearing distinctive blue bandannas whereas their bitter rivals, the Bloods, wear equally distinctive red bandannas. As such, red clothing of any kind was banned from the set to prevent cast and crew from being assaulted for appearing to be a Bloods gang member.
In the flashback scene where Smokey (Chris Tucker) is sitting in the lowrider with Hector (Demetrius Navarro) and his friend, two men can be seen sitting on a block wall in the background. The men were residents of the neighborhood who proved to be uncooperative with the production staff's requests knowing they couldn't tell them what to do on their property. Despite being offered compensation or a walk-on role to move out of the shot, the two men refused to move.
Chris Tucker improvised many of his lines in the movie.