The CGI character Baloo is so large and furry, he took almost five hours of rendering time per frame.
Sir Ben Kingsley described Bagheera as a military character: "He's probably a Colonel, he is instantly recognizable by the way he talks, how he acts, and what his ethical code is."
Neel Sethi said that since he never actually worked with real animals on-set during filming, director Jon Favreau would on occasion stand in for where the animals would be present, most notably as Shere Khan lunging out from the tall grass.
Bill Murray voiced Baloo in this movie. His older brother Brian Doyle-Murray had voiced Baloo in Mowgli e il libro della giungla (1998).