The main characters, Norma Lewis and Arthur Lewis, were based on director Richard Kelly's parents. His mother also suffered a crippled foot after an X-Ray mishap; his father worked for NASA and co-designed the camera used on the Viking Mars Landers (as in the movie).
The short story "Button, Button," written by Richard Matheson, was first published in Playboy magazine (June 1970).
The short story by Richard Matheson was previously adapted as Profile in Silver/Button, Button (1986).
When the babysitter is looking through the stack of old Astounding science fiction magazines, she mentions the title of one story, "The Day of the Moron." "The Day of the Moron" was written by science fiction author H. Beam Piper, who wrote a story about how the human race originated on Mars and immigrated to Earth.
On the commentary of Tony Scott's Domino (2005), director Richard Kelly outright dismissed shooting a 1970s period piece with a digital camera. However, after seeing David Fincher's Zodiac (2007), Kelly's position quickly changed, and he was quoted saying, "It can be done."