The makers considered shooting in Poland and Romania before settling upon Lithuania.
The film was shot in a remote, wooded area in Lithuania, about a hundred miles away from the real location of the Bielski brothers camp.
The German tank which appears near the end of the film is a replica of a Panzer III which was created by modifying a Swiss Panzer 61 tank. It was one of two such vehicles previously used in Enemy at the Gates (2001).
Extras were brought in and asked to strip naked for the scene where Aron stumbles upon the mass grave at the beginning of the movie.