In a Mubi Q and A, director Andreas Fontana says that the initial idea for the film came from reading his grandfather's journal about a tourist trip to Argentina he had made in 1980 when he was a private banker. He was struck by the mundanity of his grandfather's notes and how he did not mention or hint at anything about the political situation in Argentina at the time. Reflecting that he would have been very aware of the political situation as a former diplomat who kept up with news for business, he reflected on this absence of mentions of politics and found that it gave him "a chilling feeling, as if that absence was, in a way, intentional. Or it was his way of looking the other way." The director thought of the film as "the counterpoint to that notebook, like, the part he didn't tell." He clarified that it is fictional as his grandfather was not involved in what the banker in this film is involved in. Fontana also says that his depiction of the female characters was inspired by his grandmother, a banker's wife.
Lawyer Dekerman smokes Azor cigarettes.