Took over 3 years to make.
Peter Weller drew his inspiration for the movement of Robocop (1987) from Nikolay Cherkasov's performance of Ivan the Terrible (1945).
After the banning of the second episode, the filming stopped. The concept of the third episode can be found in the screenplay, preliminary drawings, and some filmed fragments.
Won the Stalin Prize in 1946, after which the second part was not allowed to be shown.
Posthumously listed as one of Akira Kurosawa's 100 favorite films.