The film was originally planned to be made in English under the name "Helen", with Elena, Vladimir and Sergey called Helen, Richard and Dan, respectively. Andrey Zvyagintsev dropped the idea when he realized working with an English producer meant "overcoming the issues of the creative method, of the language of cinema." Soon he proposed the script to Alexander Rodnyansky and the next day after Rodnyansky read it, he phoned Zvyagintsev and said, "Let's start." Zvyagintsev thanked Rodnyansky in a later interview for sharing his views.
According to Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena Lyadova's performance was so amazing that towards the end of filming, he wished her role was bigger.
The block where Elena and Vladimir live is in Khamovniki, a prestigious district in the central Moscow. As of 2012, one apartment in that block cost around 10 million dollars. (Their apartment itself and its outside view, however, were filmed indoors, with artificial trees.) The block where Sergey's family live, and the power plant, are in Biryulyovo Zapadnoye District in the southern outskirts of Moscow. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev concealed the locations by replacing the street signs for the time of filming.
The name of Vladimir's character was picked by Oleg Negin and Andrey Zvyagintsev on purpose because it is generally thought in Russia to mean "owner of the world" (although its actual etymology is different).
The scenes with Vladimir visiting the gym were filmed while Andrey Smirnov had two broken ribs. He had broken them accidentally while "playing around" with his son outside the set. Ashamed to tell the truth on set, he said he had slipped on the bathroom floor.
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