While shooting the film in Singapore, director of photography Martina Radwan was so taken by the plastic drawstring bags that Singaporeans drink out of that she bought several hundred back to New York. "They make perfect sense for film crews," she said. "You can hang them on C-stands and other equipment."
To distract curious onlookers when shooting on in the city, director/producer Colin Goh and 1st assistant director Stephen Chin staged a mock fight.
In the film, the on-screen illegitimate son of Richard Low is played by Ollie, the very legitimate son of executive producer 'Woffles Wu'.
The film is the first feature film collaboration between Singapore and new York filmmakers. There was a previous feature shot in Singapore in 1979, consisting of a mostly American crew, using Singaporean extras. That film was Saint Jack which was banned for many years in Singapore. The connection between Saint Jack and Singapore Dreaming is that Martina Radwan started out assisting Robby Müller, the cinematographer of Saint Jack. Martina Radwan was thrilled to discover she was retreading the path of one of her mentors.
All the herbal tea supplied to the crew and featured in the film was brewed by mother of director Yen Yen Woo.