The lift-off of the balloon is the most large-scale exterior shoot ever in Swedish cinematography.
The polar bears were in fact human dancers in costume.
The opening sequence is shot at roughly the same location (Hovs hallar) as the iconic opening sequence of The Seventh Seal, in which Max von Sydow also played the lead part, 25 years earlier.
Sweden's official submission to the 1983's Oscars as Best Foreign Language Film.