Pál Sándor originally started working on a script with Mihály Kornis, which also took place in 1956, but Kornis dropped out of the project. Sándor still wanted to make a movie about leaving Hungary after the revolution, and found writer András Mezei who ended up writing a short story, which featured the core story of what the film later became.
The story is semi-autobiographical: director Pál Sándor was 17 in 1956, and also wanted to leave the country, just like the main characters. He even took a train, but got off almost instantly.
The movie's original poster, which featured a leaky Hungarian flag (a symbol of the 1956 revolution), was banned.
One of the deleted scenes include Dani (Péter Rudolf) telling politely the Soviets to leave Hungary, and him getting kicked off their truck.