This movie was made to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party founding of China. This movie boasts the most number of China's movie stars in one movie. Many of the top stars were invited to star as leads, supporting characters, or just cameo in the movie, reportedly including some of the top Chinese stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who only have one shot or one line in the movie.
At the initial announcement of the movie, GuoLi Zhang went to the producers, offering to perform the role of Chiang Kai-Shek, for free. Shortly thereafter, all of the top movie stars of China did the same thing, and offered to play roles for only a few seconds on-screen, free of charge. Eventually, it was concluded by fans that this movie was a measure of the success or level of profession of movie stars in China.