The filmmakers had considered green screen or digital sets, but ultimately opted for the real thing. They decided to build the upper portion of the tower on top of a mountain so that the actors would really appear to be thousands of feet in the air, even though in real life they were never more than a 100 feet (30 meters) off the ground.
The two lead actresses did the bulk of their own stunts.
The 2000 ft B67 TV Tower that Becky and Hunter climb is a real television tower. According to the director, the film was based on the KXTV/KOVR radio tower that is also known as the Sacramento Joint Venture Tower. It is a guyed communication tower in Walnut Grove, California. Many base jumpers throughout the years have illegally trespassed on the property and have climbed the tower in order to jump off and parachute to the ground. Also the Walnut Grove's location has made it the site of a rare collection of very tall radio and television transmission towers. The KXTV/KOVR radio tower is a 2,049 ft (625 m). Likewise the imaginary TV tower depicted in the film is also claimed to be above 2,000 feet tall according to Hunter.
According to director Scott Mann, a smaller-scale version of the real 2000-ft B67 TV Tower was built by the same company that built the original B67 tower. Sections were rebuilt on the plateau of a 2000-ft cliff in the Shadow Mountains of the Mojave Desert so that filming occurred at the height of the actual TV tower.
The film's original dialogue, which included over 30 F-bombs, was dubbed out to make this a PG-13 film once Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights. This was done using an artificial intelligence dubbing technology system that alters onscreen mouth movements. It was later released uncut on Blu-ray in the UK.