The "Mandela Effect" is named after a phenomenon in which a large number of people thoroughly believed South African leader Nelson Mandela had died in prison in the 1980s and were surprised to learn of his actual death in 2013. Other examples of mass misremembering have used the same moniker of The Mandela Effect, such as the spelling of The Berenstain/stein Bears or Jif vs Jiffy peanut butter.
The plot comes from the popular internet conspiracy theory regarding misremembered details surrounding specific historical events and pop culture.
The Mandela Effect reunites David Guy Levy, Steffen Schlachtenhaufen, Joshua Freuhling, Josh Schaeffer, Geralyn Flood, Charlie Hofheimer, Robin Lord Taylor and Ptolemy Slocum, all of whom previously worked on Would You Rather.
Most of the film was shot in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park.