The Italian Job (2003 film) film upon which it was based. "BusinessWeek" reported in April 2004 that sales of the Mini in 2003—the year in which "The Italian Job" was theatrically released—had increased 22 percent over the previous year. A sequel to "The Italian Job", tentatively titled "The Brazilian Job", was in development by the summer of 2004, but has since faced multiple delays. Principal photography was initially slated to begin in March 2005, with a projected release date in November or December 2005. However, the script was never finalized, and the release date was pushed back to sometime in 2006, and later summer 2007.
The Italian Job which escorts the gold convoy is a conversion of a former Second World War American M8 Greyhound armoured car. The original 37mm gun was removed and replaced with a water cannon. A Land Rover Series IIa Station Wagon, registration BKO 686C, was used to get to the convoy before attacking and was modified with window bars and a towbar. A Ford Thames 400E van was used for the football fans' decorated van; this was referred to as the Dormobile, the name of a common camper-van conversion coachbuilder. The cross-Channel ferry featured in one scene is the MS "Free Enterprise I".