The film was inspired by Rick Hansen's 1986 Man in Motion Tour's true story that challenged perceptions about disability.
Kostelic sees Hansen undergo a physical and emotional breakdown, and realizes disabled people need to become more visible.
In 1998, Sherry Lansing, former CEO of Paramount Pictures, optioned the life rights to the story of Rick Hansen, a disabled man who pushed himself across the world in a wheelchair.
During the tour, he wheeled himself 40,000 km (25,000 miles) through thirty-four countries, raising millions of dollars for spinal cord research and increasing the visibility of the disabled community.
Upon securing the story's rights, Lansing confirmed producers Mark Gordon, David Foster, and Michael French.
Foster, who after seeing news coverage of Rick Hansen pushing himself in a wheelchair, wrote the song "St. Elmo’s Fire" with John Parr.