[3][4][5] In a 2015 interview on the NFB's blog, Jacob recalled the very first time he'd heard about the Montreal unrest: I learned about the events in a curious way, through one of my professors in Edmonton.

At the time, the studio had been considering a film adaption of a book about 1968 and Jacob believed the Sir George Williams Riot was "an interesting prism through which to look at that whole period in Canadian history."

[6] To make Ninth Floor, Shum combined archival footage and news clippings of the day with first-hand accounts from former student protesters such as Anne Cools, an archival interview with Rosie Douglas, and also spoke with others affected by the event— including the son of Perry Anderson, the professor who had been the initial focus of protests.

[7] The film includes video footage from Concordia University's archives, transferred from the original reel-to-reel videotape, a now-obsolete format.

Ninth Floor also makes use of archival images from Radio-Canada, CBC, CTV, Associated Press and the NFB’s own stockshot library.