Director Christian Alvart uses his own dog to play Schimanski in the film. The dog's real name is Romeo. It is a six-year-old Husky-Rottweiler.
Martens' dog is called Schimanski - after the famous German TV cop Schimanski (portrayed by Götz George) from the Tatort (1970) series.
Actors André Hennicke, Wotan Wilke Möhring and Norman Reedus were later cast in Alvart's Pandorum (2009).
Christian Alvart: [mirror shot] (at around 1h 7 mins) Michael (Wotan Wilke Möhring) in his hotel room in the city. He sees Gabriel Engel (André Hennicke) behind him who isn't really there. Alvart uses his typical shot: Michael is reflected by three mirrors, effectively showing him four times from all angles. Gabriel Engel is only in one of them.