"Shanghai" in Baku, where the film's scenes where trains run dangerously close to population take place, was demolished sometime after the filming.
Azerbaijani authorities were not happy that the crew wanted to film in this run down area in Baku and eventually forbade shooting there and therefore the production was finished in neighboring Georgia rather than in Azerbaijan.
Except for brief singing and a few seconds of unintelligible shouting, no words are spoken throughout the entire film.
Two of the actresses' names have the same meaning of "morning star" - "chulpan" (Chulpan Khamatova) in Tatar language, and "morgenstern" (Maia Morgenstern) in German.
The filming location for Nurlan's home village in the mountains is in the reality far away from railways: by foot it would take a week to get to/from the nearest railway station.