The "Eleven Lessons" listed in the film are as follows:
- 1. Empathize with your enemy.
- 2. Rationality will not save us.
- 3. There's something beyond one's self.
- 4. Maximize efficiency.
- 5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
- 6. Get the data.
- 7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
- 8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
- 9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
- 10. Never say never.
- 11. You can't change human nature.
McNamara originally agreed to an hour-long interview for the Errol Morris PBS series, First Person (2000). The interview lasted eight hours and McNamara stayed for a second day of interviewing. He also returned months later, for two more days of interviews. Morris found himself with more than enough material for a feature-length documentary.
The trick that the filmmaker used to get the subject to look directly at the camera throughout the interview was very simple. He used a small format teleprompter, which is traditionally used just for displaying text. It includes a flat panel display that points straight up and which has a sheet of glass positioned over it at and angle of 45º. The camera shoots straight through the glass at the subject. Meanwhile, the interviewer is facing a second camera, having his image projected on the teleprompter, which is reflected on the angled glass. Meanwhile, a similar teleprompter is set up in front of the interviewer's camera. This way, they can be looking directly at each other as they talk.
Was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2019.
Errol Morris's wife jokingly nicknamed his interviewing device the Interrotron, which is what it later became known as.