The record store owner in the movie is played by Nigel Young, the real-life owner of the Reel Around The Fountain Records shop in Stretford Arndale shopping centre. Reel Around The Fountain Records is named after a song written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr on the Smiths debut album, the fountain in question was in the Stretford Arndale centre, inspiring Nigel to name his shop after it. The movie producers fitted out an empty shop unit in the upper level of Stretford Arndale as a 1970s record shop to use as the set for the film, Nigel's actual shop was in the lower level at the time of filming in 2016 but he assisted in creating the filming set. Since then, the redevelopment of the shopping centre has seen Reel Around The Fountain Records move to a new unit in the upper level, a curious case of life imitating art.

The movie was filmed entirely on location in Stretford, Greater Manchester, UK, Steven Morrissey's home city, and the actual locations where the events in the movie took place. Some of the subways seen in the movie's title sequence have been destroyed and filled in by the local council since filming was completed, as part of the redevelopment of the road systems in Stretford. Only the one with steps visible at the end of the subway in shots in the film remains. The subway movie scenes thus now show a part of Morrissey's former home city that no longer exists, and the film itself has become an historical record of the neighbourhood and of Morrissey's youth.

The title is taken from the lyric "I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving, England is mine, it owes me a living" from the song "Still Ill", which was never a UK Top 75 chart hit but featured on the 1984 debut album by The Smiths.

Upon meeting The Smiths' Johnny Marr, director Mark Gill said: "He was genuinely warm and genuinely flattered that we'd made a film about them. He had nothing but nice things to say. He said he knows people that have seen it and heard good things and he wants to see it. I just said, 'Well look, thanks for changing my life'. And he gave me a big hug."