Stalin had two sons, one of whom, Yakov, died in German captivity during the Great Patriotic War; the other, Vasilii died of alcoholism in 1962. Yakov's son Evgenii has tried to carry the family torch, much as "Joseph" in the film, with little success. The conceit of the film might be based on the discovery in 2001 of another Stalin grandson, whose father was conceived during Stalin's exile in Siberia before the revolution.
When Fluke is talking to Zinaida out on the street after he first meets her, there is an Audi parked by the curb with a license plate containing the numbers "007".
Icon Productions originally held the film rights to the novel, with intentions to develop it as a Mel Gibson vehicle for the big screen.
Epilogue: "He is gone but his shadow stands over us. It's still dictates to us and we still obey.--Svetlana Alliluevya, Daughter of Stalin"