GG Allin died of a heroin overdose during post-production. The filmmakers shot additional material on his death for inclusion in the film. A bonus feature on the region 1 DVD shows a still of Allin lying in his coffin. He is dressed in a jacket and jock strap.
Allin was as undiagnosed schizophrenic and at times would become violent on the set. The film crew consisted of unpaid NYU students who had no idea Allin could be dangerous . Phillips bought large orange stickers for the crew to wear and told GG not to touch the people with the orange stickers and Allin promised not to. At one point in the movie you can see Allin approaching a member of the crew who pulls out his sticker like a badge, which Allin takes notice of and turns away.
Phillips was with GG Allin when he died, but didn't realize it at the time. Following GG's last show, and with the police looking for him, GG went to a friend's apartment to stay and they both shot up a lot of heroin. When Phillips came to visit Allin that night, GG passed out and Phillips took pictures of him lying next to his 17 year old girlfriend who had 2 black eyes. It wasn't until the next day when the friend called him and told him that Allin had been dead before Phillips left.
Even before the movie was made, Todd Phillips wrote John Wayne Gacy in prison to ask him to paint the movie poster. Gacy called him collect from prison and said, 'I'll do it for $50, art supplies and a compromising photo of yourself,' Phillips sent him a $50 money order and a photo that his roommate took on the roof of their building on 99 Avenue B. Phillips didn't think the photo was compromising, but did refer to it as 'Hawkish.' They sold the posters for $15 each through ads in the back of magazines such as Maximum Rock 'n' Roll and Flipside and ended up earning about $10,000.
The documentary cost about $12,000 to make. It started as a class project, but Phillips ended up dropping out of NYU in order to fund its completion. Only about two hours of footage was ever shot.