The movie is dedicated "In Loving Memory of Harry Hurwitz", the writer and director of the original The Comeback Trail (1982).
The fictional production company Miracle Pictures and its slogan "If it's a good picture it's a Miracle", originally appeared in Hollywood Boulevard (1976), where it was owned by a sleazy producer named Walter Paisley, played by Dick Miller. Later, the company's name and slogan re-appeared in Cheeseburger Film Sandwich (1987). Both movies were co-directed by Joe Dante, who also directed Panic sur Florida Beach (1993), which was about a fictional horror movie named 'Mant', about a monster that is half man, half ant. At one point during this movie here, a poster for another fictional movie named 'Mantula' is shown, which is about a monster that is half man, half tarantula.
The movie was filmed in 2019 for a 2020 release, and though it was released that year in many countries it did not receive an American theatrical release until early 2025.
Although the film pokes broad fun at Hollywood movies and especially westerns from past eras, it specifically references La Prisonnière du désert (1956): the character played by Duke Montana (Tommy Lee Jones) in 'The Oldest Gun In The West' is said to be "one-eighth Cherokee", a reference to the character played by Jeffrey Hunter in The Searchers who was also one-eighth Cherokee; German actors play the Native Americans, which is probably a jab at The Searchers where the Native American chief was infamously played by German-born Henry Brandon (who played many Native American characters in his career); and near the end, when the car drives past a church, the famous closing shot of The Searchers (a sun-lit door opening filmed from inside a dark area) is used.
The film cast includes four Oscar winners: Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Morgan Freeman and Nick Vallelonga.