As the movie was released just before the beginning of the 2006 Italian general election, the media and some politicians complained it could influence the voters' decision. In fact, the movie became one of the year's most successful movies in Italy, and 'Silvio Berlusconi' lost the election. Anyway, it seems to be hasty to claim this movie as a cause for the election's final results: some left wing people use to think that 'Il Caimano' gave to Berlusconi some decimal points in the election's stats.
The comment made by the Caiman during his trial, "Yes, but this citizen is perhaps more equal than the others", is a reference to 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell, in which some animals are more equal than others.
Numerous Italian filmmakers such as Giuliano Montaldo, Carlo Mazzacurati, Paolo Virzì, Daniele Luchetti, Matteo Garrone, Paolo Sorrentino, and Antonello Grimaldi play minor roles.
According to Nanni Moretti, this is not a film "about" Berlusconi.
On 1 August 2013, Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the court of final instance, the Court of Cassation, confirming his four-year prison sentence (of which three years are automatically pardoned) along with a public office ban for two years. As his age exceeded 70 years, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, and instead served his sentence by doing unpaid social community work. Because he had been sentenced to a gross imprisonment for more than two years, a new Italian anti-corruption law led to the Senate expelling and barring him from serving in any legislative office for six years. Berlusconi pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban. After his ban ended, Berlusconi ran for and was successfully elected as an MEP at the 2019 European Parliament election.