Ingmar Bergman was so impressed when he met Lena Olin for the first time that he wrote the part of Anna especially for her.
This was Ingmar Bergman's first film after saying he was retiring from making movies.
Originally conceived as a simple dialogue between a director and an actor on a single stage location. Ingmar Bergman wanted a simple, straightforward project after the complexities of Fanny y Alexander (1982) and he also wanted to work with Erland Josephson, Lena Olin and cinematographer Sven Nykvist again.
Ingmar Bergman found the experience of making Después del ensayo (1984) so draining that he renounced film-making altogether. This of course did not last and he continued making TV projects up until his death in 2007.
The plan was to rehearse for three weeks and then have Sven Nykvist film the results. However, the plan quickly went awry with the production beset by problems, mainly because Ingmar Bergman and his acting troupe simply spent too long agonizing over every line and how to deliver them.