The film is inspired by the real-life attack on the Rome's police force, including the director's father Alfonso Noce who was the deputy police commissioner at the time. The attack was conducted by the Armed Proletarian Nuclei (NAP) - Southern Italy's most powerful left-wing terrorist organization in the early 1970s. It happened on December 14, 1976 with NAP members opening fire on police officers from a van.
The film premiered on September 4, 2020 in competition at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, while the country was still struggling with the devastation that the Coronavirus pandemic had brought.