The Martial Art used in this movie by Rama (Iko Uwais) is Pencak Silat, the indigenous fighting style of Indonesia.
Every actor who played a member of the SWAT team went through a training program with KOPASKA (Indonesian Navy's Special Ops) to study the techniques used in the force including weapons use and hand signals. Not only did this make their handling of weapons look more realistic, it also made their cooperation as a team feel natural.
Gareth Evans originally wanted an action drama set in a prison. When the approved budget was too small, he pared it down to a one-building action film that became The Raid. The success of this film allowed him to secure a larger budget for the sequel where he got his wish of a prison drama.
Yayan Ruhian (Mad Dog) had once trained Pencak Silat for Pasukan Pengamanan Presiden (the Indonesian Presidential Security Forces- equivalent to US Secret Service) in 1989 and for the Indonesian Military Police Corps in the early 1990s.
All the guns used in the film are Airsoft replicas and not functioning firearms. All the shots of the gun action cycling, muzzle flashes and casings ejecting were added digitally. For the impact of shots, traditional squibs were used, and an old bus was bought to serve as the team's van that gets riddled by bullets. This scene was done with real ammunition, and had to be done in one take since they could not afford another van.