Most of the clothes used in the film are authentic polyester clothes from the 1970s. They were purchased in brand new condition from a warehouse.
Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams felt that Dan Hedaya was exaggerating his part as former President Richard Nixon. The pair were born after Nixon's administration. The older people working on the set assured the pair Hedaya was not overacting.
The Marine One helicopter seen at the end is the same Marine One Sikorsky make and model chopper in which former President Richard Nixon departed after he resigned in 1974. The helicopter was lent to the production by producer Gale Anne Hurd.
Co-writer and director Andrew Fleming wanted the feel of a 1970s movie, and tried to frame scenes as he thought they might have been framed in a comedy from that era. He also used analogue tape editing tools, rather than digital, to maintain this feel.
Co-writer and director Andrew Fleming said of this film, former President Richard Nixon, and the Watergate scandal to the Washington Post: "Originally, we thought it was an irreverent way to treat something serious. But in reading the transcripts of the tapes, we felt that he was irreverent. He violated us, lied to us. Did things that were illegal and seriously, permanently damaged this country. I'm amazed there is this effort to rehabilitate his image."