According to Guy Maddin the plot of Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988) was inspired by "The Eternal Husband," by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Maddin's own experience of cuckolding a friend.
In the scene where Gunnar meets Einar on the beach where Einar is chopping fish, the background music used is the theme from Richard Fleischer's Les Vikings (1958).
Guy Maddin on the film's often puzzling use of fish imagery: 'The actual town of Gimli in Manitoba is a good, old middle-of-the-prairies fishing village. They are fish crazy and seafood is served with everything, including Christmas dinner! I didn't go out of my way to include all the fish. It's part of the Gimli culture. In truth, I tried to cut most of the fish references down, but somehow they remained at the fore.'