Joey Odendahl was a fan of Dale Ahlquist's television show, and repeatedly called Ahlquist until he would agree to listen to Odendahl's idea for the film.
The actors and one of the editors filmed a short film in three hours after one day of shooting.
Manalive has been filmed before, in France, under the title "Red-Haired Revolver".
The Manalive poster was designed by John Herreid, the same man who designed the poster for the two-part CBS movie, Faith: Pope John Paul II (2005).
The actors playing Michael Moon (Kaiser Johnson) and Rosamund Hunt (Ashley Ahlquist) ended up really getting married a year after they filmed the movie