The film was entirely independently funded by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou. As a result of the near non-existent budget, the duo were unable to afford actual crew members for film production.
Shooting took place in an actual take out restaurant during operating hours.
Part of the Criterion Collection, spine #1149.
Shengyi Huang's debut.
After premiering at SlamDance in 2004 and at least 25 screenings at various film festivals, the filmmakers entered legal arbitration with Seth Landau, the maker of Take Out (2005) over the name of the film. As a result, the film did not get it's limited release date in theaters until 2008.