Screenwriter Justin Zackham coined the term "bucket list" after writing his own personal list titled 'List of Things to do Before I Kick the Bucket', shortened to 'Justin's Bucket List'.

The first item on Zackham's real-life bucket list was to 'get a film made at a major studio,' and this very list inspired the screenplay, making The Bucket List his first studio film.

Roger Ebert, who had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had his lower jaw removed in 2006, gave the film a scathing one-star review, criticizing it for treating dying of cancer as 'a laff riot followed by a dime-store epiphany.'

Despite mixed critical reviews (40% on Rotten Tomatoes, 42/100 on Metacritic), the film was a box office success, opening at #1 in the US and grossing over $175 million worldwide against a $45 million budget, and was named one of the ten best films of 2007 by the National Board of Review.

Composer Marc Shaiman included a rearranged, spoofed version of the James Bond theme 'Goldfinger,' titled 'Printmaster,' on the soundtrack, in which he sings his own lyrics mocking the film industry's habit of using tracked music in scenes where it doesn't belong.

The soundtrack album also features newly recorded themes from several of Marc Shaiman's earlier scoring projects, including City Slickers, The Addams Family, Sleepless in Seattle, and South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut.

The film's actual theme song, John Mayer's 'Say,' was not included on The Bucket List soundtrack album but appeared instead on the re-release of Mayer's third album, Continuum.