The name of Zsa-zsa Korda is presumably derived from two of Hungary's most famous film related characters, actress Zsa Zsa Gabor and movie making brothers Alexander Korda, Vincent Korda and Zoltan Korda.
Benicio del Toro said that he accepted the role based on 20 pages of the script that Wes Anderson sent him, which was the first sequence of his character with his daughter. "It was so rich and detailed, original and funny and sad. It was just so layered. As an actor, you're looking for parts like this. When they come, you just bite and don't let go."
Historically, Phoenicia referred to a region that today encompasses Lebanon and Syria. The fictional Phoenicia as depicted in the film roughly corresponds to the wider Levantine region as it was defined in the first half of the 20th century. Prince Farouk's kingdom is Jordan; Marseille Bob's nightclub is in French Algeria; the canal Zsa-Zsa crosses over is the Suez Canal; Hilda's "Private Utopian Outpost" is an Israeli kibbutz; the hotel where the summit is held is in Luxor, Egypt; and Marty's ship is on the Mediterranean.
Mia Threapleton, who plays Liesl, is Kate Winslet's daughter. While Winslet has yet to appear in an Anderson film, her name inspired that of the character played by Cate Blanchett in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Jane Winslett-Richardson.
The story focuses on a father-daughter relationship, which Anderson was inspired to tell and was predicted by his wife after the birth of their daughter.