Before the film went into production, director Aki Kaurismäki had the idea to make a film about African children living in Europe. Aki Kaurismäki originally wanted to set the location of the film in Marseille or a port city in Spain and Portugal. But when he discovered Wenxin Harbor, he decided to shoot the film there. Aki Kaurismäki thinks that Wenxin Harbor is not only suitable for the filming of the film, but it is also appropriate to use Wenxin Harbor as the name of the film.
On March 23, 2010, the film officially started shooting. The film cost a total of 3.8 million euros, of which the Finnish Film Foundation provided 750,000 euros. During the filming, local residents of Wenxin Harbor and some real people participated in the filming of the film. Filming ended on May 12, 2010
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