At an estimated 15 million in Swiss Francs, this was up to the time the most expensive Swiss-budgeted film. Approximately half the budget went into the miniature special effects.
Even though the movie was highly advertised in Germany with Klaus Kinski in the starring role, he has just about 10 minutes of screen time in the entire movie.
In the German version Thomas Danneberg dubbed Lewis Collins and therefore himself had to be dubbed by another actor, Rainer Brandt.