Aerial footage for the film was captured from an open-cockpit biplane, flying over the San Juan Islands.
"Tucker," a lab mix canine, who is trained to help researchers by sniffing out whale scat, received a "Blue Marble" award from co-director Rick Wood, for his part in helping to save orcas. The Blue Marble was given to Wood directly by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols.
Co-director Shari Macy is a First Nations (Native American), of the Skeetchestn Band. Her tribe rely on healthy chinook salmon runs every year. Macy sought spiritual guidance from her elders throughout the film.
All underwater sequences were shot using 20-foot-long poles, with micro HD cameras attached to them.