Shot in a single take. The first three attempts were cut short by technical difficulties, but the fourth was successful.
Because the Hermitage museum had to be shut down, the production had only one day to shoot the film.
Over 4,500 people participated in the making of the film, both in front of and behind the scenes. This included extras, seamstresses, grips, orchestras and the Hermitage staff.
The film's final, hypnotic dance sequence was a recreation of a 1913 gathering which marked the final ball ever held in Tsarist Russia. It should be noted that the sequence was filmed in the exact same ballroom that was used in 1913, and that the room had not been used for dancing since that pre-revolutionary time.
Among the many problems that plagued the one-day-only production, there was a considerable language barrier. Director Aleksandr Sokurov speaks only Russian, and cinematographer Tilman Büttner speaks only German, so a translator followed the duo around (along with Büttner's seven-man crew) to keep the communication open.