Director Thomas Vinterberg was approached in 1999 by child psychologist Søren Friis Smith, congratulating him for Das Fest (1998) and giving him a pile of newspaper articles, scientific reports and personal notes about cases where people had been wrongfully accused of pedophilia, telling him he had to make a film about the subject.
Annika Wedderkopp was never told during filming what exactly Lucas was accused of. She was only told her character lied about him committing a crime.
End credits say, "Deer were shot by professional hunters who maintain the population. The dog did not suffer during filming."
Thomas Bo Larsen's fake beard would constantly fall off due to the enormous amounts of alcohol in his blood: he was struggling with alcoholism at the time of filming.
Premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, as the first Danish-language film in the main competition since 1998.