"The Fantastic Drifting of the Junior School" was mainly filmed in India and Taiwan. Pai’s childhood was filmed in Pondicherry, India. The production team moved into a 200,000-square-foot studio and office area in the city. The filming work took place in 18 locations in and outskirts of Pondicherry. In the first few scenes of the film alone, 600 staff were used, nearly half of whom were locals. In addition, about half of them were locals. Five thousand five hundred local residents acted as extras. In response to the demand in the film, the botanical garden in the city was transformed into a fictional Pondicherry Zoo. In addition, the production team also obtained permission to enter the thousand-year-old Viriannur Temple for filming. In addition to 2,000 extras staying up late to participate in the filming, there are also a total of 20,000 traditional leaf-wrapped candle lights lit all night, and all the staff present continue to pay attention to the fire candles.
Another scene where Patel's family went out was filmed in Munnar. The actual shooting part of the film was shot in the depths of the Bairong Garden in Kenting, Taiwan. With the support of the local government in Taiwan, Ang Lee and his production team converted the facilities and hangars of Taichung Shuinan Airport into a fully functional movie studio. The surreal and mysterious floating island where countless meerkats live in the story is the result of a combination of live shooting, art design and digital technology.
