When Sophie is flipping through the TV channels, she stops at an Sinterklaas-themed episode of the series Flodder (1993), which was based on a movie of the same name. Dick Maas created the movie, its two sequels and the series that was derived from it. Johnny Flodder was played in the first two movies by Huub Stapel, the same actor who plays Niklas in 'Sint'. Johnny Flodder in the series footage, however, is the late Coen van Vrijberghe de Coningh.
On January 4th 2011 the movie poster was awarded the TV Krant Filmposter Award 2010, the annual Dutch award for 'best cinema poster of the year', as voted for by the Dutch audience.
Some scenes with the horse running on the rooftops were shot at a clinic in Utrecht, where the movement of horses is studied. They have a treadmill at the faculty for animal health.
The title of the film, Sint (or "Saint" in English) may seem vague and oddly non-specific to non-Dutch audiences, but St Nicholas is in often referred to simply as De Sint ("The Saint") in the Netherlands.
Upon release the movie poster proved to be very controversial. Various organizations of concerned parents tried to boycott the poster, which features an image of a 'zombie St. Nicolas' as opposed to the friendly St. Nicolas the people in The Netherlands are used to. Dutch director Johan Nijenhuis became the spokesperson for the movement that tried to boycott the poster and he even went to court, claiming the poster would damage the festive season and cause trauma to young children.
Remco van de Kant: The man on TV that presents the weather is actually the movies' production manager.