The shooting was carried out in the vicinity of the city of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitskiy near Kiev. Permission to shoot on the spot of real events was never obtained, although the group traveled to Kursk. The problem was that in the battlefield there was still a significant amount of unexploded bombs and shells that could detonate from pyrotechnic effects or the passage of heavy military equipment.
The battle scenes were so extensive that the chief pyrotechnician, V. Sukhetshiy, was given an on-screen credit.
This was the first film of a production that was released as five feature films under the English language title, "Liberation".
The producers were unable to locate any real German Tiger or Panther tanks. A Soviet tank factory modified some existing tanks to look like the Nazi tanks.
For the most part, historical figures were portrayed by actors from the appropriate countries. Since no American studios were involved with in the production, Polish actor Stanislaw Jaskiewicz was chosen to portray American President Franklin Roosevelt.