According to recent claims by Claude Lelouch, he was driving his own Mercedes in the film, and later dubbed over the sound of a Ferrari 275GTB to give the impression of much higher speeds. Calculations made by several independent groups using the film show that the car never exceeds 140 km/h (85 mph), which seems to lend credence to his recent comments.
Lelouch was arrested shortly after the film was screened but was later released without charge.
The film is nine minutes long because the film cartridge in the camera could only hold 10 minutes of film and it was taken in a single shot.
The film was shot in a single take, without any special effects or stuntmen, with the director driving the car.
The idea for this film came to Claude Lelouch after hiring a gyro stabilized camera mount for a film he was working on at the time.