The tableaux vivants filmed are: "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt; "The Parasol", "The Third of May 1808", "La Maja Desnuda" and "Charles IV of Spain and His Family" by Goya; "The Valpinçon Bather" and "The Turkish Bath" by Ingres; "Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople" and "Jacob wrestling with the angel" by Eugène Delacroix; "Assumption of the Virgin" by El Greco; "The Embarkation for Cythera" by Watteau.
The first choice for cinematographer, through a recommendation from Francis Ford Coppola and Zoetrope films, was Vittorio Storaro. Godard replaced him right before shooting began with Raoul Coutard, whom he hadn't worked with since the mid 1960s.
Myriem Roussel's debut.
Barbara Tissier's debut.
During the shooting, Jean-Luc Godard made the short film Handyman (1981), which deals with the art of movie making. The original cinematographer of Passion (1982) Vittorio Storaro, appears as himself shooting the film.