Originally set to have its theatrical release in 2013.
The film is the vanity project of realtor billionaire Jon Jiang (Jiang Hongyu), who financed part of the film's budget. The screenplay went through 40 drafts and took over four years using a total of ten screenwriters.
The Romanian actress Irena Violette quit the movie halfway through and had to escape the mountainside film set, subsequently her character the mermaid Dada, who is the bodyguard of Aka (played by Jon Jiang's mistress Shi Yanfei) was cut from the film.
The movies were planned to be a franchise on the scale of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, with a trilogy to be made and an accompanying animated series, video games and a theme park in China.
This reputedly has a budget of over $130m.