The film was originally titled "Paris est une fête" (literally "Paris is a Party", the French title of Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast"), but had to be changed in post-production because it became a symbol of hope in the wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks. The new title "Nocturama", on the other hand, comes from a Nick Cave album and means "night vision". Bonello liked the hybridism of Latin and Greek and used it with Cave's permission.
Rejected by the 2016 Cannes Film Festival due to its politically sensitive content, in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015.
Director Bertrand Bonello said he featured characters from different social backgrounds in the film as he wanted to avoid stigmatizing people from the suburbs or people who are Muslims.
The amount of 28kg of Semtex was actually stolen near Lyon in 2008. This real life event has been integrated in the fictional movie.