'Mohammad Chamas' who played Omar in the movie was discovered by accident. At one time while the crew was preparing the set and not having found an actor to play Omar, Mohammed was passing by and he had a fight with one of the crew members. The director noticed him and immediately asked him to play the character. After having lived in an orphanage most of his life, becoming a lead in a motion picture was an important change of pace.
The title "West Beyrouth" has the first word "West" in English, and the spelling of the second word "Beyrouth" in French. The director said that it's an allegory to the trilingual cultrue existing in Lebanon: Arabic being the native language, and French and English being the 2 other quintessential languages spoken there.
Official submission of Lebanon the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 71st Academy Awards in 1999.
Composer Stewart Copeland spent many of his formative years growing up in the titular city when his father - who worked for the CIA - was stationed there.
The song that plays when Tarek, May, and Omar ride their bikes through town is a remix of the Spyro the Dragon theme. Both West Beirut and Spyro were released in the same year.