The documentary premiered at Sundance in January, 2004. Less than two months later, McDonald's announced that it would no longer sell any of its menu items in "Super Size", although it officially denied that this move was in reaction to this film.
At the San Francisco premiere, Morgan Spurlock said that getting permission to shoot in NYC McDonald's was often denied (in which case they would often hide the camera or go out to the car and eat), but to acquire consent in other cities, it generally consisted of the following exchange: "What are you guys filming here?" "We're shooting a MOVIE!" "OK."
Morgan Spurlock shot 250 hours of footage. Less than 1% of this footage appears in the final cut. Some extra footage is included on the DVD release.
Morgan Spurlock got the idea for this documentary when he was lying on his couch at his family's house shortly after Thanksgiving dinner, watching TV when he saw the news about two teenage girls suing McDonald's for making them obese.