According to the Arizona Republic newspaper of August 22, 2014, two days of filming occurred at Mesa High School in Mesa, Arizona. About 350 students got to play extras in the film. Making his Hollywood debut as an extra was a 17-year-old David Geffen, the future music and film producer.
Although a drama set in a (then) contemporary setting, the movie contains actors who had already or would become science-fiction legends; Billy Gray co-starred in the science-fiction classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and his co-star from "Father Knows Best", Elinor Donahue, would later be featured as a guest star in one of the original Star Trek episodes (Metamorphosis)as Commissioner Nancy Hedford. Of course, the star of the movie, William Shatner would go on to fame as Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk, while the father of co-star Beau Bridges (Lloyd Bridges) was one of the actors considered by Star trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry to be the star of the series as the Captain of the Enterprise.
The kids outrun the cops in a 1960 Thunderbird convertible.