The first draft was written in 6 hours, but it took 3 years for production to start and only one month to shoot.
The two stories told during the film (the 'Rico story' and the one told at the dinner table) were shot and included in early cuts of the film. But they were later removed to not hinder the main story.
All four actors work or used to work together for the same theatre troupe.
Although the Czech Republic is talked about rather deprecatingly, writer Kamdine Khosrowkhavar used to lived there for 7 years and is actually very fond of the country.
In early drafts, the little boy was an Asian boy. However, the production was unable to find a young Asian actor and so a Turkish boy was cast instead.