Paul Préboist suffered from vertigo. On the other hand, Jean-Paul Belmondo was extremely fearless. While filming in the balloon up in the air Belmondo made some jokes that horrified Préboist so much that he started to cry.
Some of the scenes were shot in France, for example when you see snow. The snow in the Himalaya was inaccessible for the crew, one needed three weeks by foot to reach it. A small part of the team had been there but for the shooting it was too complicated. Some scenes were shot at the foot of the Himalaya and also at the world's highest monastery at 5000 m altitude. It was just not possible to get the whole crew there, because they needed to use a helicopter which could take only three or four persons a time.
Nearly the whole film was shot locally on site. Only three or four unimportant scenes were made in the studio. This means three or four minutes of a total time of two hours. The rest are exterior shots.
This film is loosely based on the 1879 novel Tribulations of a Chinaman in China by Jules Verne.