The short film was inspired by the true crime of Jennifer Pan, a Vietnamese-Canadian woman in her mid-20s who orchestrated a kill-for-hire attack in 2010 on her immigrant parents in response to their severe "tiger parenting".
Munkie was Steven Chow's Master of Arts in Screen Production thesis film at The University of Auckland in 2020. It explored crime genre and the anti-heroine protagonist along with the themes of forbidden love and the severity of "tiger parenting".
Principal photography was delayed due to New Zealand's second COVID-19 pandemic lockdown for the Auckland region in August 2020. On 7 October, Auckland moved down to level 1 and the shoot commenced the following day on the 8th.