Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 9, 2001. The events that happened on 9-11 effectively killed the film's chances of distribution within the United States.
During the scene in which a tank plows through a German town, a stuntwoman was given directions to move out of the way of the tank as it was coming towards her. She failed to do so, and had to be pulled out of the road at the last minute (the footage of the incident was included in the final cut). Co-writer and director Gregor Jordan described the moment as terrifying, as he was convinced that she had actually been run over and killed.
Ed Harris initially was sent a copy of the script with the idea that he would play Sergeant Lee, but he found himself more drawn to the role of Colonel Berman and was subsequently cast as such.
The forest where the tank drives through was planted just for this movie on a green field in front of a real forest. The tanks were not allowed to drive through the real forest.
At a screening of the film on January 21, 2003 at the Sundance Film Festival, a woman in the audience verbally attacked the film during a Q&A period following the presentation. The woman reportedly accused the filmmakers of being anti-American and flung a plastic water bottle. The bottle hit an elderly man in the crowd on the head. The woman claimed the bottle was intended to hit the screen. The man was not seriously injured.