Emily Watson learned to play the cello as a child. She practiced so long and so intensively for the film that her fingers bled.
The film has never been released in France, to avoid litigation by the real-life Daniel Barenboim.
The lines, "...O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, / How can we know the dancer from the dance?", are from the poem, 'Among School Children' by William Butler Yeats.
The lines, "... I went into a golden land, / Chimborazo, Cotopaxi / Took me by the hand...", are from the poem, 'Romance' by W. J. Turner.