The lead role of Kisa Vorobyaninov was originally filmed with Dmitriy Nazarov. When after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 he started publicly criticizing the invasion and war he was fired from the Moscow Chechov-Theater along with his wife Olga Vasilieva and in Janury 2023 he was removed from his role in this movie after a demand of the investors. Director Petr Zelenov announced that his parts were re-shot with a different actor. In an interview with the Russian News Agency "RIA Novosti" he said "We didn't shoot that much, so a re-shooting wouldn't be that difficult". He claimed that Nazarov's statements were "a hard hit" for him.
Aleksandr Semchev not only appeared in 12 stulev (2004), another adaptation of the novel, playing Yevgeniy Petrov, one of the novel's writer but also had a supporting role in Zolotoy telyonok (2006), a TV series based on another novel by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeniy Petrov. Also Dmitriy Nazarov starred Zolotoy telyonok (2006).