Nora's name is of Czech ancestry. "Kovar" means "blacksmith" and the "ik" suffix means "slight in skill or height", implying that they were not good blacksmiths.
Nora's bedroom was built from scratch to allow the filmmakers flexibility in its design. The opening shot of the film, where we see nearly the entire bedroom, was the first shot of production. As production continued sections of the bedroom were removed to allow room for the camera setups. The color of the bedroom walls is fleshy pink to match the warmth and comfort of the womb.
The bathroom was entirely built from scratch. The cool color scheme of the bathroom (as well as of Nora's other fantasies) plays off the warm tones of her bedroom. It took four people to move the bathroom wall in the scenes where Nora is about to be crushed.
Nathan's transition from the street to the field was shot to look seamless, but was actually filmed in two locations. The street footage was filmed against an actual white brick building. Production Designer Melissa Mansfield then modeled the wall out of pink foam in 4-foot sections. In the field portion the wall sections are being held up by four production assistants. When the camera moves with Nathan beyond a section of the wall, the production assistants ran behind the camera with their section. The camera moves around Nathan, revealing that the wall had disappeared.
The tree trunk carving and the medical file heading in Nathan's fantasy is writer/director John Shrum's handwriting.
Anthony Dergham: The Producer of the film, makes a cameo as the professor of the class into which Nora flees.