The white tiger's name, Hu, shares the same pronunciation with tiger in Mandarin Chinese.
Joel McHale, Jason Lee, Andy Samberg, Ed Helms, Bill Hader, Ryan Reynolds, David Cross, Will Forte, Ashton Kutcher, Sean Hayes, Chris Pratt, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Jack Black were all considered to replace Louis C.K. as the voice of Max before Patton Oswalt was confirmed.
Max having a voice actor replacement in a second installment of a 2010s computer-animated film (going from Louis C.K. to Patton Oswalt) is similar to Murray the Mummy, from the Hotel Transylvania films, having a voice actor replacement in a second installment (going from CeeLo Green to Keegan-Michael Key), both instances following a sexual assault controversy with their original voice actors.