Many of the Tasmanian locations featured in the film are part of the actual escape route Alexander Pearce and his fellow convicts took in 1822. The cell scenes in the film were shot in the old Rozelle Hospital in Sydney, which was once an asylum for the clinically insane and for Irish political prisoners.
Lead actors Adrian Dunbar, Ciarán McMenamin and producer/co-writer Nial Fulton were all born in the same town, Enniskillen.
Australian actor Dan Wyllie lost his front teeth in an accident as a child. He allowed the production team to chip a spare set of dentures for his role as Robert Greenhill, the English sailor-convict.
Producer Nial Fulton was introduced to the character of Alexander Pearce during a chance meeting with a priest in County Monaghan. The priest gave Fulton a book on the infamous cannibal convict by Australian author Dan Sprod.
Convict Alexander Pearce and Catholic priest Philip Conolly both came from the parish of Clones on the County Monaghan / County Fermanagh border. Ciarán McMenamin (Alexander Pearce) and Adrian Dunbar (Philip Conolly) were both born in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.