Producer Max Wang and the film crew spent three years to raise three generations of 35 Mongolian wolves. 16 wolves were trained and starred the film.
According to producer Max Wang, a guard-dog Rusty became a self-trained actor after constantly listening to commends given by wolf-trainer Andrew Simpson. Rusty did stunt for wolves and is also a good friend with King Cloudy, the alpha-wolf. Both Rusty and Cloudy have retired and emigrated to Canada.
16 wolves and a dog stunt-double emigrated to Canada after retiring from film-making. They currently live in the ranch owned by their animal trainer Andrew Simpson (February, 2015).
Knowing the film required intensive horse-riding skills, actors Shaofeng Feng and Shawn Dou learned regular British riding for months in advance. However, they realized this preparation was in vain after arriving inner Mongolia because the riding style for Mongolian horses is very different that for the Westerns. After all, they both mastered the Mongolian riding style.
According to the producer Max Wang, almost all the big-name directors in China refused to direct this film due to the extreme difficulties of training Mongolian wolves.