Barkhoff wanted to take time off after his fourth film to come back with something that felt different compared to his first four. Throughout 2023, Barkhoff worked on five different films to various degrees, the first four all reaching certain levels of obtainment before Barkhoff partook in a hiatus, feeling uninspired for a string of months. Barkhoff concocted the idea for CD-R and regained much of his lost creativity. When he only had a number of scenes remaining before completion, he decided to write additional scenes, nearly doubling the film’s length.