The sequence in the cigar factory was filmed without a permit.
The success of the album and this subsequent documentary had a deep impact on the Cuban tourist industry, raising the country's profile.
In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The Buena Vista Social Club album was put together by guitarist Ry Cooder in 1997 as a means of recapturing the "lost" music of pre-revolutionary Havana. The story was later made into this movie.
The bulk of this film was shot with available light.