Jia Zhang-ke incorporated footage and outtakes from previous films he had directed into this one, including Unknown Pleasures (2002), San xia hao ren (2006), and Asche ist reines Weiß (2018). About 10 scenes from this film had previously appeared in the aforementioned movies.
Director Jia Zhang-ke created this film by editing together footage that he had filmed over the past two or three decades, some of which was originally filmed without any specific purpose as Jia and his crew experimented with diverse filming techniques.
Tao Zhao, the lead actress in this film, has been married to director Jia Zhang-ke since 2012. This is the 12th screen project and the 9th feature film in which Tao has acted and Jia has directed.