Dame Helen Mirren described this movie as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". Although many actors would regret their involvement with the film, Mirren has remained proud of her role as "the most promiscuous woman in all of Rome", as she believed European Cinema was reaching a benchmark in sex positivity and "it was the time to do nudity". She was, however, taken aback with the film's hardcore footage.
It has been suggested the childbirth scene where Caesonia (Helen Mirren) gives birth, was an actual childbirth, which was filmed in three takes using three different pregnant women extras and later edited together. Extras assisting the births were real doctors, who said they were indeed equipped with all the modern tools they would need to ensure safety for the women and babies despite in full ancient Roman clothing. This of course has been debunked by everyone involved with the production.
This movie took nearly four years to make, and another two years to have been distributed worldwide.
Director Tinto Brass originally wanted to cast actual criminals in conditional sentence as the Roman Senators and ugly women in the sex scenes to shock the viewers. The result was producer Bob Guccione firing Brass.
Peter O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but producer Bob Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something", and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. In a 2013 article for The Guardian after O'Toole's death, Malcolm McDowell recalls that whatever O'Toole smoked in his trailer during breaks from filming, "it certainly wasn't tobacco."