Mosfilm gave the production crew exactly 5400 m of color Kodak stock for the whole movie, therefore parts of the movie and some demanding sequences, like the train robbery, had to be filmed on cheaper black and white stock.
As a result of an accident during filming, one of the painters died, who had consumed a fair amount of alcohol the day before, but was nevertheless sent by the administrator to the set on a bus with flammable materials, where his attempt to smoke led to fire and death.
The draft title of the script was "Half a Million Gold, Swim, Walk and Drag."
Preparations for filming took only a few weeks, and Mikhalkov was able to start work only after serving in the army.