use Algorithm::Loops 'NestedLoops';
use Data::Dumper;

sub init_arr {
    my ($val, @dims) = @_;
    my $arr;
    NestedLoops( [map [0..$_-1], @dims], sub {my $r = \$arr; map {$r=\(($$r)->[$_])} @_; $$r=$val} );
    $arr;
}

print Dumper (init_arr('hi',3,2,1));