Many extras and background artists appearing in the Sound Club and Railway Station scenes were real life youth, drug addicts, and prostitutes who were found by the production for the sequences involving crowds.
One of Christiane F.'s best friends in the movie is Babsi. When Babsi died in 1977, at the age of 14, the newspaper "Berliner Zeit" ran a cover story about her being the youngest drug victim in Berlin. Her death, along with the publication of the book "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" helped raise awareness around teenage drug use.
The concert sequence starring David Bowie was filmed in New York in October 1980 at the Hurrah Club. As Bowie was appearing on Broadway several nights a week at the time, director Uli Edel had to shoot the scenes in that city. The venue was set dressed so as to resemble a Berlin nightclub. The big concert crowd scenes utilized footage from an AC/DC concert in the then West Germany.
The movie featured the music of David Bowie who even appeared in the film in concert sequences. His involvement with the picture helped its awareness and box-office. Nearly all the songs on the film's soundtrack were written or co-written by Bowie. According to the film's source book, Christiane F. in real life had had her first experience with heroin at a Bowie concert and this fact was reiterated as a story element in the film.
Many German teens overdosed in the Berlin Zoo Station bathrooms.