Director Danny Boyle placed the money to be paid to the 3 lead child actors in a trust that is to be released to them upon their completion of grade school at 16 years of age. The production company has set up for an auto-rikshaw driver to take the kids to school every day until they are 16 years old.
The pile of excreta that the young Jamal jumps into was made from a combination of peanut butter and chocolate.
When viewers objected to the term "Slumdog" as racist-sounding, director Danny Boyle explained that it wasn't; the word is a combination of Jamal's twin standings as a "slum-dweller" and an "underdog."
Danny Boyle originally wanted Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan -- who had hosted the final season of Kaun Banega Crorepati? (2000) (the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1998)) -- to play the game show host, but the actor was not available. The actor who plays the host, Anil Kapoor, was a guest on the show and won 5,000,000 Rupees.
Longiness Fernandes was the choreographer of the dance sequence set to the song "Jai Ho," which is played during the end credits. But his name was inadvertently left out in the credits of the film. Upset with this, Longiness skipped the preview parties. Danny Boyle was also upset over this mistake and promised Longiness that he would make it up to him, and did it in style. While accepting the Best Director Oscar, he admitted his mistake before the audience and thanked Longiness. The song "Jai Ho" also won the Best Song Oscar for A.R. Rahman and Gulzar.
Danny Boyle: [Scotland] The first customer Jamal speaks to while working on the phones at the call center is an irate Scottish woman who lives in Kingussie, Inverness.