Due to the very short amount of time that Glenn Howerton had to prepare for the role of Jim Balsillie, he was unable to meet Jim before filming. Howerton also said that Jim rarely made public appearances or gave interviews, which would have helped him to play Jim.
Jim Balsillie originally didn't know what to make of Glenn Howerton's performance of him until he saw the film with a crowd who reacted well to Howerton's performance.
Although the Blackberry line of smartphones was discontinued, the business itself, Blackberry Limited, is still going as a technology company focusing on cybersecurity.
The real life Jim Balsillie told Glenn Howerton at the premiere of the movie that he has never seen a movie more than once, until BlackBerry.
The photo shown of the engineers together at Research In Motion is inspired by a popular photo of the id Software team from 1992. Matt Johnson is John Romero and Jay Baruchel is John Carmack in the photo.