Shot on a single 14'x14' set, made to look like many different cubes through the use of different-colored panels.
All of the characters are named after prisons: Quentin (San Quentin, California), Holloway (England), Kazan (Russia), Rennes (France), Alderson (Alderson, West Virginia), Leaven and Worth (Leavenworth, Kansas).
Not only are the characters named after prisons but they reflect the prisons themselves. Example: Kazan (the mentally challenged character), in Russia is a disorganized prison. Rennes (the "mentor") was a jail that pioneered many of today's prison policies. Quentin (the detective) is known for its brutality. Holloway is a women's prison, and Alderson is a prison where isolation is a common punishment. Leavenworth runs to a rigid set of rules (Leaven's mathematics), and the new prison is corporately owned and built (Worth, hired as an architect).
To show their support for the Toronto film industry, the special effects company C.O.R.E. did the digital effects for free.
Director Vincenzo Natali directed a follow-up short film in which we see what is outside the cube. Natali has made a solemn vow never to reveal what was outside the cube, and destroyed the video years ago.
One of the earlier drafts of the script had the characters finding bizarre alien food. The idea was subsequently lost after it gave too clear a definition as to who was responsible for the cube.
The handles on all the hatches are industrial die holders used for cutting threads on rods and available in any hardware shop.
Was the last movie to ever be released in Canada by Cineplex Odeon Films before they were absorbed into Alliance and changed to Odeon Films.
The idea that a cube has six sides is reinforced with other aspects of the script; There are for instance six characters.