Surpassed Guardiões da Noite (2004) in March 2005 to become the highest-grossing movie in post-communist Russia. Earned approximately $20,000,000 as of April 2005).
Didier Bienaimé, who played D'Hevrais, died at the age of 42 some months before the premiere of the film.
The film is based on the second book written by Boris Akunin about Erast Fandorin. The first book ("Azazel") was made into a four-episode TV film starring Ilya Noskov as Fandorin. However, in the second film we see another actor playing the main character - Egor Beroev. Statskiy sovetnik (2005), the third film of the series (and the seventh book), introduces yet another actor in the role of Fandorin - Oleg Menshikov.
As of 22 February 2005 the film has had the widest release in post-communist Russia: it was shown on 364 screens.