The screenwriter and actor Daniel Niebauer trained in Shotokan Karate for almost 50 years. He was the first to perform the Kata Unsu in tournament competition in 1978.
Gabrielle Niebauer who plays Nicki is really a white belt in real life. She had about ten half hour lessons about three for basics and the rest on Kata. She learned all the application moves on set at each day of filming. It was important that she not actually know Karate ahead of time.
The movie shows how the moves of the Five Heian Katas of Japanese Karate come from Five Animal Kung Fu.