In post-war Berlin, a real life cat burglar existed who was given the nickname "Klettermaxe" because of his daring feats scaling walls of buildings. He was eventually arrested.
Stuntman Arnim Dahl performed many daring stunts as the cat burglar in the film and was used to promote the film with live climbing stunts in many German towns and cities, where he would scale the walls of cinemas or other nearby buildings. He became more famous for the film than the lead actor for whom he was doubling.