Writer/Director Paul Feig chose to give the character David the gift of quickly assimilating and communicating in new languages in order to avoid subtitling. He believed subtitling the many languages in the film would have distanced the viewers from the story.
Stewart Copeland, drummer for rock band "The Police", composed the original soundtrack for the film. For inspiration, Copeland immersed himself in Eastern European Gypsy and folk music.
"Young David" is played by Clem Tibber, the real-life younger brother of Ben Tibber who played David through the rest of the film.