Although a fan of the show, Denmark's real female Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, claimed "I've made a point of not watching Sidse Babett Knudsen too closely just to make sure I'm not too influenced by her. If anything, it sometimes feels more as if life is imitating art."
The title "Borgen" is a nickname for Christiansborg Palace, the home of the Danish parliament and the prime minister's office. "Borgen" can be translated as "the castle" or "the fortress".
Pilou Asbæk, the actor who plays spin doctor Kasper Juul, received requests from political parties to talk to their main spin doctors in a public forum.
The fictional media portrayed in Borgen are based on real-life media outlets. Public broadcaster TV1 is based on DR1, the tabloid newspaper Ekspres is inspired by Ekstra Bladet, and the commercial 2'eren is similar to TV 2.
The author Stephen King was a great fan of Borgen and listed it at the top of his top 10 list of the best TV shows of 2012.