The witch Baba Yaga is an actual witch in eastern European/Russian folklore. She is said to have iron teeth, and uses a mortar and pestle as her mode of transportation. According to legend, she would steal children and kill them, and use her victims' bones to build her house and fence, the latter onto which she would mount children's skulls and use them like lanterns. Her house stood on chicken legs, and would only kneel on her command. She also had a cat that she often mistreated, that had been known to help some people escape her clutches, or outwit her.
Andrea Martin, Hank Azaria, and Kelsey Grammer are the only actors and actress to be in this movie and Anastasia (1997). Of these, Azaria is the only one to reprise his original role. Martin and Grammer played different characters in Anastasia (1997).
During the scene where the crowd appear at the Romanov palace, you could see a young Grigori Rasputin making his cameo appearance.
Bartok mentions performing once for Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV), which leaves some doubt as to which Russian monarch Prince Ivan is meant to be. Ivan V was the handicapped brother of Peter the Great and had no real power as ruler. Ivan VI was deposed and imprisoned by his cousin Elizabeth when he was one-year-old, and eventually died in prison. The Prince Ivan of this movie, who is mentioned as a member of the Romanov dynasty, is a fictional Czar. He was possibly based on Czar Michael, the first Romanov Czar, who was made ruler at the age of seventeen. This would place the movie's setting somewhere between 1601 and 1613.