Trivia

The "disorienting" view when the family is in the country was created by shooting in widescreen without anamorphically adjusting the image.

Cinqué Lee and Joie Lee originally wrote the script as a pilot for Nickelodeon. A test pilot was screened for inner city children who disliked it. The Lees converted their idea into a screenplay.

The film is loosely based on lives of Spike Lee and his siblings (who co-wrote the script).

According to Delroy Lindo, he was very intimidated by working with children as had not worked with children before and did not have his own children at the time.

None of the children on set had any idea how to play any of the street games in which their characters engage. Spike Lee had to personally instruct them on how to play them before the scenes were filmed.