“Pickup Polka” was filmed in a gym in a single eleven hour day in Madison, Wisconsin. The gym was chosen for two reasons; One, the afternoon light that made such nice patterns during the polka game, and two, the running track that circled the gym above the court was perfect for overhead shots. Due to time constraints and personnel availability, three 16mm cameras were used with an operator at each one. One camera was mounted on a Chapman pee wee dolly on precision track to dolly back and forth with the action. A second camera to the right was primarily on a tripod, and occasionally put on a jib arm over the center of the court. A third camera to the left of the dolly was also on a tripod, but also spent excessive time hand held. Lighting was minimal, again due to time constraints. Two 1200 watt Par lamps were mounted on the running track for fill. An eight by eight silk was backlit in the doorway the Polka players entered to add a feeling of mystery. Plus green was added to the lights to balance with the existing sodium vapors. The green was then timed out at a supervised transfer.

The ending shot was actually filmed first, outside the gym at seven in the morning. After moving inside, the large establishing shot of the courts was filmed. The basketball games were then filmed sequentially. One take was the rule, unless the shot involved a player making a particular move or hitting a specific mark. Over ninety shots were accomplished in eleven hours. Seven and a half rolls of film (about three thousand feet) were used, with the only off speed shots being rolled at twenty frames per second to speed up the action for comedic effect.