During the final push to finish the undercover film, Miles hands Tim a long list of "shots we needed by several days ago." Some of the items include: "Fireball hurtling into sky," "Staged archive footage of president speaking about U.S.-Congo relations," "Grenade falling to floor," "Cultist gets hit by flying Jake," "Ken Burns-style panning over Congo jungle map (close up)," and "Dolores steals Jake's sandwich and puts extra spicy hot death sauce on it."
In the fantasy action sequence when Miles imagines breaking into Steiner's office and cracking the password to his computer files, a photo appears briefly on the desktop of Steiner's computer of actor David Loftus in a pirate hat and eyepatch. Loftus supplied the photo from a pirate-themed wedding of a cousin of his in response to director Sean Parker's request for something goofy.
The filmmakers placed a pitch video on Kickstarter.com to raise funds, with a goal of $7,500. When the donation period closed on February 3, 2010, 37 backers had pledged to contribute $7,680. These funds covered the majority of expenses during production.
The working title through most of production was "Coup de Théâtre," a French phrase that translates literally as "blow of theater" or "knock of drama," and refers to a dramatic turn of events or a theatrical trick staged for dramatic effect. Eventually the creators acquiesced to the fact that the title didn't accurately reflect the mood of the film, and even the majority of the cast and crew had trouble pronouncing it! The title was changed to "Coup de Cinema" shortly before its rough cut debut in late 2010.
In the scene one day before the premiere of "Marauders of the Door of Doom," Rick's desk calendar includes the following: "Pick color for red carpet," "Don't forget that one thing," "Book hotels - something cheap," and "Breakfast w/Gilda - find excuse to leave early!"