The Lithuanian painting girl who appears at the beginning and ending of the movie, played by Ursula Clark, is based on the real-life Akiane Kramarik (born in July 9, 1994, in Mount Morris, Illinois), a girl who affirmed to have experienced an NDE and to have met Jesus in heaven. In addition, the painting about Jesus shown in the movie is the real painting made by Kramarik, called Prince of Peace.
Both Akiane Kramarik and Colton Burpo had a NDE, which allowed them having their revelations and visions. NDE is short for Near-Death Experience, a term established for the first time by doctor Raymond Moody in his 1975's book "Life After Life". In it, Moody compiled real stories about patients who by a brief time had died and later lived again. The different stories had several common points:
- To be out of the physical body.
- Float around the rooftop of the room, seeing the own body in the bedroom.
- X-rays senses, with capability to see and hear people (familiar, friends...) in the next rooms, or even long-distance senses, with capability to see and hear people far away from their own location.
- Travel by a tunnel to high speed, with a great white light at the end.
- Meet in the light parents and friends previously dead.
- See a retrospective about the own lifeline, like movie frames.
- Feel a great peace and tranquility while standing in the light.
- Feel (not see) the presence of a powerful entity look-a-like a god.
- A voice saying "It's not your time" or something similar, and return from the light.
- Have a great feeling to fall from a high altitude, returning to the physical body and finally back to life.
The two lead actors, Greg Kinnear and Thomas Haden Church, were born on the same date, June 17 (1963 and 1960, respectively). The two lead actresses, Kelly Reilly and Margo Martindale, were also born on the same date, July 18 (1977 and 1951, respectively).
The name of Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent's book on which this movie is based is "Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back".
As a coincidence, this movie has actors with the surname Church (Thomas Haden Church) and Apostle (Randy Apostle) matching the Christian religious theme.