Filming was partially done in Maury City, TN. It's a very small town where many stores have long gone out of business. Dirt was trucked in to cover the parking area to better authenticate the look of the era.
The barn featured in the movie is an authentic 1930's era structure up-kept but not upgraded for decades. It was a working cattle farm for years.
Producers originally wanted cattle loaded into the rotolacter machine, only to be informed it would be impossible due to cattle behavior. Instead, they opted to only have a cow grazing in the background.
Earlier fictionalized depictions of the reaction to 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast include The Night America Trembled (1957), a live TV drama on CBS's Studio One drama anthology series, broadcast on Sept.7, 1957. In 1975, ABC-TV presented La notte in cui l'America ebbe paura (1975), which also included a recreation of the broadcast itself.
The film takes place on October 30, 1938.