The turbulent relationship between the main characters was inspired by the director Pawel Pawlikowski's real-life parents, who did break up and get together a couple of times, who moved from one country to another, and according to Pawlekowski, died together.
After seeing his performance in this film, Danny Boyle -- who was briefly attached to directing the 25th James Bond film -- wanted to cast Tomasz Kot as the villain. The Bond producers disagreed with his choice, wanting a more established name, so Boyle quit the project.
The first Polish-language movie since 1990 to be shown in the Cannes Film Festival competition. Although there were entries from Polish directors Krzysztof Kieslowski and Roman Polanski during that time, they were made in French and English as co-productions.
The main characters were loosely based on the real-life creators of the world-renowned Polish folk dance group Zespól Piesni i Tanca Mazowsze (in the movie Mazowsze has been changed into Mazurek), Tadeusz Sygietynski and Mira Ziminska. They were married and after the war toured the countryside in search of talented young folk singers and dancers. They also composed the song "Dwa serduszka, cztery oczy", which is the leitmotiv of the movie.