To make the phone call scenes between Søren Malling and Pilou Asbæk appear authentic on film, director Tobias Lindholm filmed those scenes as actual conference calls with Malling being in Denmark and Asbæk being in Kenya.
All of the pirates are played by local Somalis, only one had been cast beforehand.
The scenes on the ship were filmed in Mombassa in Kenya on a ship that had previously sailed under Danish flag.
The role of Maria Hartmann was a comeback in films for the former child star Amalie Ihle Alstrup after a long break in favor of dubbing.