The cigarette-lighting cameo appearance of John Bardon was entirely improvised and unplanned. Not enough extras had arrived for the bar scenes, and Assistant Director Allegra Monico was sent out onto the streets outside the location to scout for willing volunteers to be extras. She spotted John Bardon walking past, recognized him, and asked him if he'd like to appear in the scene. His appearance consequently helped introduce the "dodgy cigarette-lighter" gag.
The movie is a homage to '60s British cinema, particularly Michael Caine movies of that period. The lead character of the assassin calls himself "Matthew Palmer", after Harry Palmer of Ipcress (1965), and his band is called "The Ipcress Files". The lead assassin who confronts Palmer at the film's climax is called "Mr Carter", in reference to Carter (1971). And in the interview bar scene between Palmer and Lance, a painting of Michael Caine is seen in the background.
'The Interrogation', the first story, was a complete re-shoot of the short film of the same name, written and shot some years previously by Ian David Diaz. Cast members Richard Banks (Parry Fenton), Oliver Young (Lucas Finn) and Giles Ward (Mr "Mad Dog" McCann) all reprised their roles from the short.
Production occurred between Friday night 13th February to Wednesday morning 4th March 1998; a total of 20 shooting days of principal photography. While two days off were planned during the shoot, these had to be used to catch up when shooting over-ran the previous days.
While director Ian David Diaz always envisaged shooting the opening scene with just one set-up and in a continuous shot, due to the production falling behind schedule, Julian Boote (Mr Frazer) and Paul Vates (Mr Preston) had just one take to get the opening scene right. The pressures of the shoot and the stress over getting it in the can "in-one" only accented Julian's need to come across nervous and fidgety.