The story is loosely based on fact, as actress Mélodie Abad was similarly caught working as a waitress and asked to leave the country. The restaurant where the interviews take place was the very same restaurant she worked in.
Some of the interviews took place with men who had no idea what was happening, and believed they were in with a chance of marrying the French girl. The final version of the film has excerpts of some of their films alongside those of scripted actors.
The restaurant setting in the film is Royale Eatery on Long Street in Cape Town, South Africa. This was the restaurant actress Mélodie Abad was working in when she was caught working without a visa in real life several years before the events depicted in the film.
While some of the prospective husbands being interviewed were scripted actors, many men who came on set were responding to genuine advertisements for marriage and were giving actual impressions of themselves. Both theirs and the scripted husband scenes made the final cut of the film.
The scenes featuring Anna reading in the restaurant toilet were the first to be shot.