The script was written in a very loose form and according to Aki Kaurismäki he only read Hamlet on the very week he wrote the script just a couple of weeks before filming.
The film was born when Pauli Pentti asked Aki Kaurismäki to produce his version of William Shakespeare's Macbeth (1987). Kaurismäki agreed and said that he will direct Hamlet va de negocios (1987). "Shakespeare trilogy" was not completed, since Anssi Mänttäri's planned version of "King Lear" didn't materialize.
The film has all the essential moments of the play, To be, or not to be -monologue being a notable exception that it is not included.
The film cost less than half a million (Finnish markka, less than 84,000 euros today). It drawn ~23,000 spectators in Finland in 1987.
Director Aki Kaurismäki does not consider the film a farce or a parody. He was influenced by American film noir of the 1940s and melodramas of the 1950s. The comedic tones are inspired from the Finnish "Inspector Palmu" series.