To prepare for the role of Detective Strode, John C. McGinley worked with a retired detective from the LAPD.
Film debut of Kimberly Elise. She was discovered by producer Dale Pollock at a restaurant where she was a waitress.
According to the documentary Set It Straight: The Making Of Set It Off, the movie was shot in 39 days under the budget of $9 millon.
This was F. Gary Gray's second feature film. New Line Cinema selected him as the director following the success of his previous film Sexta-Feira em Apuros (1995).