The director said the movie was influenced by the films 12 Angry Men and Saw, as well as the suspense films of Alfred Hitchcock and Agatha Christie.
According to the director in a 2017 interview, one of the challenges they faced were loud noises and music from local clubs and other sources surrounding the building where they shot principal photography. Those and the sound of airplanes landing and taking off at nearby JFK airport made getting clean takes a minor miracle throughout the shoot. Also, a Mister Softee Ice Cream truck would return at the end of the day and park. The constant ringing of the music it played kept breaking up takes. Since they couldn't film they would take a break and the director would buy ice cream for the whole cast and crew.
Director Robbie Bryan revealed in an interview that he cast two of the actors because he was trying to get them to finance his upcoming film Black Hat.
Director Robbie Bryan talked about finding the perfect location in a 2017 interview with the website Daily Dead: "A majority of the film, almost 95%, takes place in one warehouse/gallery type room in Brooklyn, NY. We were going to be shooting in NY because of the tax credit. But the issue was getting a warehouse that we controlled for almost a month. To get this in NYC would most likely prove expensive. If we went outside the city, it would be cheaper, but then we would have to house cast and crew and work with SAG (Screen Actors Guild) guidelines, which would be cost prohibitive. And, of course, the choice of aesthetics. I didn't want it to be a big, dirty warehouse, a la Reservoir Dogs. I wanted something smaller and cleaner, as this is supposed to be a governmental-type facility. We finally found this place in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn with this awesome catwalk that worked perfectly, and we were able to work out a reasonable deal. Since there is so little of the film that takes place outside of that room, we wanted to contrast that with the opening shots, shot in New Rochelle and Rye, NY, with a beautiful opening including fall foliage, to show that we went from a nice normal existence to a sterile, prison-like vibe."
The drone footage and opening sequence filming began in the fall of 2014 with plans to shoot principal photography in January 2015, but the director was diagnosed with tongue cancer and had to postpone production to undergo treatment. Filming began again in August 2015 and lasted 15 days shooting 12 hours a day.