When actor Gösta Ekman went to Budapest on vacation, he found that people were looking at him in a very odd way. He eventually understood why when a local asked him if he were Picasso, to which Gösta replied, "If you mean that I played Picasso in a movie then, yeah, that's right." It turned out this movie had great success in Hungary, where it had been playing at a Budapest cinema every year since its release, and has even been adapted for the stage.
The authors Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson first intended to make a movie about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but found his life too short.
The military rank of Don José during his Nazi period is "Hauptbahnhof" which is German for central station. When he salutes, instead of "Heil Hitler" he yells "Halvliter" which is Swedish for half a liter.
The original idea for this movie came from actor Gösta Ekman. He thought it would be funny to write a guide to a place were you never been. Then, he thought that it was almost the same thing to write a biography over a person you never met. Someone famous, like Jesus or Picasso.
The narrator in the Swedish version is Toivo Pawlo (who introduces himself as Elsa Beskow). The narrator in the Danish version is Ove Sprogøe (who introduces himself as Karen Blixen). The narrator in the Norwegian version is Per Aabel (who introduces himself as Margaretha Munthe). The narrator in the English version is Bernard Cribbins (who introduces himself as Gertrude Stein). The narrator in the French version is Raymond Bussière (who introduces himself as Mistinguette).
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