For director Lu Chuan, the movie marks a return to his interest in recording realistic human moments after tracing the footprints of wild creatures for the Disneynature documentary Born in China seven years ago.

Beijing 2022 was prepared and shot over a period of nearly three years between 2020 and 2023, with more than 1,000 crew members involved in the production. They were divided into different teams and sent to several countries, following the training and family moments of involved athletes, such as the Hungarian-born short-track speedskating brothers Sandor Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang, and American snowboarder Chris Corning.