The film stars Fischbach, as well as Rosanna Pansino, Matthew Patrick, and Chance Morris in major roles.

Following the success of Fischbach's previous interactive video A Date with Markiplier in 2017, he wrote the script for the special a year later, although production did not start until 2019.

Markiplier and his assistant[a] break into a museum to steal an ancient box located in a vault.

In one of the resulting endings, the box contains a fairy that grants wishes, but is confiscated by a prison guard due to its noise.

Refusing to enter a human-shaped hole reverses the roles of Bob and Wade, and travelling back in time results in the assistant being interviewed.

Otherwise, they are given a choice between finding a scientist or going to a nearby shelter: Fort Brannagan, supposedly the only zombie-proof area.

As she destroys the box, the branching timeline of the film is briefly shown before returning to the 31st ending, with Mark and the assistant at the beginning, confused on why they are at the museum.

The short gained over 90 million views on the platform,[2] and inspired Fischbach to create A Heist with Markiplier.

In late 2018, Fischbach wrote the script for A Heist with Markiplier, which in contrast to the original, had a total of 31 endings.

[2][3] He partnered up with Rooster Teeth to film it, and production was funded by YouTube Premium, who also distributed the special, due to wanting their own interactive-video-project.

[6] In a review for the Clark Chronicle, Griselda Eychaner said, "That's what sets this series apart from everything else on YouTube: it's made for the viewer.

And it will go in a completely nonsensical direction no matter what you choose, so you can pretty much do what you want without fear of consequences.

"[7] On November 6, 2019, a week after the special was released, Fischbach screened an interactive livestream on YouTube of the movie.

[11] Eventually, on November 11, 2019, Fischbach released a statement saying that he spoke with YouTube about the issue, and it was being worked on.

[12] After the success of A Heist with Markiplier, Fischbach teased the idea of a sequel in a December 2019 interview.

[15] After months of updates on writing the project, Fischbach announced that he had travelled back to Austin to film the sequel.