In June 2013, two Inuit friends of the explorer Nicolas Dubreuil, Ole Eliassen and Adam Eskilden visited Paris. Actors Thomas Blanchard and Thomas Scimeca showed the visitors around town. This inspired director Sébastien Betbeder to create a short film Inupiluk. Two years later Ole and Adam invited the two Thomases to come to their home town in Greenland, which inspired Sébastien Betbeder to create the full-feature film Journey to Greenland.
In order to prepare a difficult shooting in extreme conditions, the filmmakers tested their technical equipment within frozen rooms provided by a frozen food store (Picard).
Kullorsuaq means "the big thumb".