The film's original treatment was simply to "splat a child's face into baked beans for an hour-and-a-half". However, fears that this would prove impractical and boring led the film makers to add additional characters and storylines.
Benjamin Akira Tallamy was cast in the leading role of Man after another actor dropped out at the last minute. All the film's central roles (Man, Child, Air Hostess and Mum) were deliberately not given proper character names as an in-joke by the film makers.
The beans used in the film were not Heinz - though the film's poster and tagline both subtly allude to the brand - but supermarket own brand. Actor Daniel Searle spent more than 15 minutes with his face immersed in baked beans.