Sensing that he doesn't have much time left, Ah-reum writes a story about how his young parents fell in love and how he came to be, hoping to give it as a gift to them on his seventeenth birthday.

After the documentary is screened, Ah-reum begins to receive emails from another child who is sick, a young girl whose messages comfort him and provide hope as he tries to recount the love story of his parents as his final gift to them.

[19] My Brilliant Life marks director E J-yong’s return to commercial filmmaking after spending previous years focusing on low budget experimental works such as Actresses (2009) and Behind the Camera (2013).

About their decisions to sign on to My Brilliant Life, they stated that the script “read as more restrained, but nevertheless thought-provoking on the subjects of family and loss.” [28] Principal photography began in 2013.

Early on in production, director E J-yong recognized the need for advanced makeup techniques and special effects to age Jo Sung-mok, the child actor for Ah-Reum.

Spackman, the investment group which the film's production company Zip Cinema is under, declined to clarify whether Chinese distribution would be treated as an import or revenue-sharing quota release when asked by reporters.

[29] For general audience response, My Brilliant Life came in third in its opening weekend, following the highly-popular gambling saga installment Tazza 2 (2014) and English-language French science fiction thriller film Lucy (2014).

[34] In 2015, the 5th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase showed My Brilliant Life as part of its presentation of the Pacific Arts Movement.