LOS ANGELES >> The raunchy comedy “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” which opens in theaters today, was inspired by the true story of rambunctious New Yorkers Mike and David Stangle, who placed an ad on Craigslist seeking dates to accompany them to their cousin’s nuptials. But the film diverges from real life in one major way, relocating the wedding from Saratoga in upstate New York to the Aloha State.

The change wasn’t done for dramatic purposes as much as for the same reasons a record-breaking 8.65 million visitors were drawn to the islands last year: a desire for a Hawaiian vacation, according to “Mike and Dave” director Jake Szymanski.

“On their second draft (screenwriters Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien) said, ‘Hey, we should change everything that says New York to Hawaii and maybe we’ll get to go there and film it.’ And that’s exactly what we did,” said Szymanski, who is making his feature directorial debut.

The entire film was shot on Oahu, including the opening scenes set in New York. In fact, the very first scene, featuring comedian and podcaster Marc Maron playing a bartender, was filmed at Lucky Belly restaurant on Hotel Street in Chinatown. Other locations during the 45-day shoot included Turtle Bay Resort and the Moana Lani Spa at the Moana Surfrider in Waikiki.

And like numerous other made-in-Hawaii movie and TV productions, including “Lost,” “Godzilla,” “50 First Dates” and the “Jurassic Park” films, “Mike and Dave” includes sequences shot at Kualoa Ranch, where the Stangle brothers (Zac Efron and Adam Devine) embark on a wild ATV ride. Szymanski said the movie’s wedding ceremony scenes take place at Kualoa’s “Secret Island” beach, with Mokolii in the background.

“The backdrops in every shot are beautiful. It really becomes a bigger movie when you’re in Hawaii surrounded by the beautiful vistas, mountains and nature,” he said. “We can shoot a simple scene of people talking, but with the background you get shooting in Hawaii, everything looks epic.”

One highlight of the filming for Szymanski was meeting actor Branscombe Richmond, who has a role as a barbecue chef named Kalani. The part-Hawaiian Richmond played Bobby Sixkiller in the 1990s crime series “Renegade” and can currently be seen in the new Showtime series “Roadies.”

“I grew up watching ‘Renegade’ on TV as a kid,” the director said. “I was so excited when I … found out he does a lot of local movies and I said, ‘Let’s put him in,’ immediately.”

“Mike and Dave” also recruited Hawaiian musicians, with the Rough Riders — Henry Kapono, Brother Noland and John Cruz — playing the music heard at the end of the movie as well as providing original recordings. (The trio is glimpsed on screen as they perform.)

“I’m happy to say we did end up casting a lot of locals for a lot of our smaller characters,” said Szymanski, explaining that the entire date montage in which the Stangle brothers “audition” potential wedding dates used all local casting.

Szymanski is known for his videos on the Funny or Die comedy website and “Saturday Night Live” and for Andy Samberg’s HBO tennis “mockumentary,” “7 Days in Hell.” He is currently working on a sequel to the latter and said he would like to do more projects in the islands.

“We all fell in love with Hawaii and hope we can shoot more movies there,” he said.

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Former Makaha resident Ed Rampell co-authored “The Hawaii Movie and Television Book” (Mutual Publishing).