The shot with the monk on the streets of Tokyo was unplanned. The crew went to a factory for filming but after many hours of searching for ideas, they disbanded the place, finding it unsuitable for filming. On their way back to the hotel, producer Mark Magidson saw the monk walking and stopped the cars and asked director/cinematographer Ron Fricke to film him. After obtaining the footage, the crew gave the monk some money and left. The monk never stopped his prayer and never looked into the camera.
Baraka was the first film in over twenty years to be photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format, an extremely high-definition wide-screen film format developed in the mid-1950s. The previous film filmed in this particular format was The Last Valley (1971).
The eclipse shoot almost didn't make it in to the final work. The crew went to Hawai and had their spot on a hotel rooftop, but almost an hour before the eclipse clouds moved in and immediately the sun disappeared. Everyone in the hotel tried to find a better location and only the film crew stayed after a huge discussion. Minutes from the eclipse the sky cleared for shooting and the final result is in the film.
Was filmed by a five-person crew over a period of 14 months in 24 countries across 6 continents.
In the Indonesian cigarette factory the workers made a fuss in the first hour. According to the director, the women tried to touch their skins or clothes since it was the first time they saw a Caucasian person.