The story for this film had existed for several years before it was made and was originally conceived as a sequel to The Mover (2005). It was twice nearly filmed in that form in 2006 and 2008 but was reworked into an original screenplay in 2010 as Sam Hughes was unavailable to reprise the role of the Mover due to his touring commitments with his band Sansara. The rewritten script allowed Don Graham, George Hughes and Rob Green- all of whom were in the earlier film- to appear as different characters in this one. The victim played by Jamie Tubbs in the black and white flashback during the pre- title sequence wears the same costume Ed Wilkinson wore in The Mover because it was one of the first scenes shot when the film was still going to be "The Mover 2".
"Beneath the Ice" had previously been used as the US fake working title for Die Another Day (2002). George Hughes was only aware of it's UK fake working title of "Beyond the Ice" though and was actually inspired by the 1985 Shriekback song "Fish Below the Ice". The title is deliberately ambiguous but could refer to Burnett's violent past behind his cold demeanor or the metaphorical ice about to give way under him on his latest job.
The film's tagline ("Get in. Get out. Don't look back.") is similar to that of Drive (2011) ("Get in. Get out. Get away.") but it was actually inspired by a line spoken by David Jason in Only Fools and Horses (1981).
Burnett and Lowrey were named for the characters played by Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in Bad Boys (1995).