The only movie directed by Sam Peckinpah that he had final cut on - all the others were re-cut by the studios.
According to Gordon T. Dawson, principal photography was marked with an overwhelming sense of melancholy and defeat, perhaps engendered by Sam Peckinpah's use of cocaine (introduced to him by Oates). The screenwriter (a veteran of several Peckinpah films) was so unnerved by the shift in Peckinpah's mental state and mercurial behavior that he resolved never to work with him again.
Warren Oates copied Sam Peckinpah to play his part, right down to borrowing a pair of sunglasses from the director.
The film went into production in late September 1973 and in an October issue of Variety magazine, Sam Peckinpah was quoted as saying, "For me, Hollywood no longer exists. It's past history. I've decided to stay in Mexico because I believe I can make my pictures with greater freedom from here". This upset the Motion Picture and Television Unions and they openly censured the director for his statement at their National Conference in Detroit. They also threatened Alfredo Garcia with union boycotts upon its release, labeling it a "runaway" production. In his defense, Peckinpah claimed that he was misquoted. Before the film was to be released, the unions relented on their boycott threat.
With the exception of a few key people, the crew was entirely Mexican. Sam Peckinpah hired director of photography Álex Phillips Jr., one of Mexico's premiere cameramen. They bonded over a dislike for wide-angle lenses, an admiration for zooms and multiple camera setups. Peckinpah told him, "I make very few takes, but I shoot a lot of film because I like to change angles. I shoot with editing in the back of my mind".