During filming Kyle Gallner suffered a panic attack whilst being tied to a cross, which the crew were unaware of at first, thinking he was still acting.
The Westboro Baptist Church planned to protest Red State at its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Kevin Smith in turn planned a counter protest which he and his fans took part in. At the premiere the counter-protesters heavily outweighed the handful of Westboro protesters who showed up. This occurred 12 years after Smith's first film to tackle religious controversy, Dogma (1999), drew protests from certain sects of the Catholic Church, one of which Smith jokingly took part in himself.
There is no score for this film. The entire soundtrack consists of songs sung within the film itself.
Shot over a period of 25 days, using the all-digital Red camera system, director and editor Kevin Smith could edit the footage the day he shot it. Because of this between shooting scenes Smith would be editing almost non-stop. As a result, a mere 2 days after the last shot was done, Smith was able to show a fine-cut of the film to the entire cast and crew at the wrap party.
A first for writer/director Kevin Smith, he has stated this film is a strict non-comedy saying, "It's a nasty-ass $4mil horror flick with few (if any) redeeming characters."
Kevin Smith: Smith has a quick off-camera cameo at the end of the film, as a prison inmate, yelling the last line in the film.