The film The Innocence of Muslims went undetected for months in Hollywood before it triggered an explosion of global outrage Tuesday.

The origins of the amateurish film (a 14-minute trailer was downloaded to YouTube in July to scant awareness) remain a mystery.

"I've never heard about this project," says radio talk-show host and film critic Michael Medved, who described the film as less than high school quality. "It's not something that was on anyone's radar screen."

The film reportedly has required 60 actors and 45 crewmembers, and portrays Islam's prophet Mohammed as a philandering, child-molesting murderer who bends his philosophy to fit his desires.

A man identifying himself as Israeli Jewish real-estate developer Sam Bacile told the Associated Press that he made the film for $5 million with the help of Israeli backers. Israel's government says it has no information on him.

"Nobody has heard of this guy," Los Angeles Jewish Journal editor in chief Rob Eshman said of Bacile. "I'm willing to be surprised, but it's so unlikely a guy could exist here and no one could know him."

Steve Klein, an insurance salesman from Hemet, Calif., who says he was a consultant for the film, said Bacile is not his real name and that he is proud of his film. He said no one came to the film when it was screened once, but after the attacks in Libya his phone was "ringing off the hook."

"This morning he called and he was terrified and said, 'Am I going to get arrested?' I settled him down on that issue."

Klein said he had no regrets that the film sparked violence in Cairo, and blamed the U.S. State Department's lack of security for the murder of the ambassador.

"I did not incite them," he said. "That's their nature."

Klein said he is not worried about repercussions either.

"There are times you have to do what you got to do," he said.

The two-hour movie, Innocence of Muslims, cost $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors, said filmmaker Sam Bacile, who wrote and directed it.

The self-described Israeli Jew told the Associated Press, from an undisclosed location, that Islam is a cancer and that the film was intended to make a political statement, while condemning Islam on the whole.