Ingmar Bergman had planned to have a horse killed on camera to show the desperation of the German people during the Weimar Republic's inflation crisis of 1923. David Carradine said he would walk off the film if Bergman went ahead with is plans. Bergman compromised, and the horse was killed off-screen, but the corpse is shown, as an impoverished man offers up handfuls of offal to Carradine's character.
Near the beginning of the movie Manuela is said to live at Bergmanstrasse, which is German for "Bergman's street". This movie was directed by Ingmar Bergman.