Director Hoyt Yeatman's son, Hoyt Yeatman IV, came up with the original idea for the film when he was five years old. Yeatman liked his son's story so much that he brought it to producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
The "Coke" Ferris wheel shown in the movie is located on the island of Okinawa, Japan in a shopping and entertainment district called "American Village."
Nicolas Cage uses the same voice for Speckles that he used in the movie Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).
This is the second film that Nicolas Cage and Steve Buscemi made with Jerry Bruckheimer since Con Air (1997).