[3] He was also personally motivated to make this film by his approaching inheritance on his 21st birthday, having observed that a lot of people with inherited wealth, including members of his family, “live unproductive lives, and even in some cases tragic and miserable lives.” He wanted to figure out why this occurs, to avoid that fate.

[4][5][31] The film makes reference to his grandfather, Seward Johnson, noting the conflicts from his third, late in life marriage to his chambermaid, and the longest, most expensive contested will trial in U.S. history that ensued after his death in 1983.

During the trial there were ongoing headlines in The New York Times about the estate battle and lurid tales were revealed that humiliated his family.

[5][7][31] Johnson said, “My grandfather made some serious mistakes, he was born rich and I really didn’t want to be in the same situation that he found himself in at the end of his life.”[31] It took three years to make as most of the young heirs contacted to participate in the film turned him down,[28] sometimes harshly,[26][12] due to parental objection, fear of losing their inheritance, or fear of violating social taboo.

[6] A Campbell's soup heir and a Rockefeller initially agreed to participate but both of them backed out due to a parent's objections.

[4][12] Johnson recalls people approaching him at parties telling him that he was a traitor to his class, that making the documentary was the "stupidest thing" he could do, it would not benefit anyone, and he would regret it and lose all his friends.

[35] He had always wanted to film the final scene, where he and Bingo pour Veuve Clicquot into a tower of champagne glasses,[12] "as part of the movie about the unequal distribution of wealth in America.

[12][35] After hearing early reports about the film, Luke Weil filed a lawsuit on September 4, 2002, demanding that his scenes be removed.

[33] Johnson thought that Weil was "the most honest person in the film",[35] who was "willing to say things...that may reflect what our peers are thinking all the time.

[32] Sheila Nevins, executive vice president for original programming at HBO, decided to see the film at Sundance when she saw a line around the block for it.

[41] In July 2003, it was promoted at the HBO presentation at the Television Critics Association convention in Los Angeles by Johnson and three film subjects.

[33][50] According to Johnson, although Georgina Bloomberg did not attend the opening, she sent him a note afterwards saying she was happy with the film's success and the wide audiences that were able to see it.

[33][54] He also believed the fascination with wealth in popular culture at the time of the release "is deeply influenced by the administration that's running the country.

[56] ABC2 published an update from Johnson where he said that privacy around wealth has recently begun to ease, and that he remains close to at least half of the film's subjects and friendly with all of them.