To give this movie its gritty, documentary-style appearance, director Paul Greengrass used mostly handheld cameras, and a muted color palette. Greengrass also made sure to avoid computer graphics at all costs, and all of the stunts shown in the movie were achieved practically.
Regarding the famous use of a rolled-up magazine as a weapon, fight coordinator Jeff Imada explained, "I would go around the set after it had been dressed and get an idea of what would be lying around and how it could be used as a weapon. I came up with the idea of using a rolled up magazine and had to convince a few people that would actually be a functional weapon. I had to demonstrate it by rolling it up and hitting it on the table to show how hard the impact would be. And also Matt [Damon] and Marton [Csokas] verified that the magazine would actually hurt because they'd be hitting each other in the arm before takes and would actually get bruises from it."
Unlike the James Bond franchise, all the devices that Bourne uses are real and can be purchased by the average citizen.
In the house in Munich, when Jason Bourne uses the rolled newspaper as a weapon, the martial art he performs is derived from Escrima, an old Philippine martial art, also called Arnis or Kali. This fighting style mainly uses sticks to fight, and in modern times the use of everyday objects is taught, including ball pens (as seen in The Bourne Identity (2002) and rolled up newspapers. In the film it is combined with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. The fighting syle of Jeet Kun Do was also shown in the film, Rapid Fire (1992) with late actor, Brandon Lee. Jeff Imada, served as a stunt coordinator for both projects.
Virtually all of the events in the movie were shot in the reverse order of location. This means scenes in Moscow were shot first and those in Goa were shot last.