One of the most, if not the most expensive telenovela at its time, mostly due to its use of VFX. A sea storm sequence was co-produced with Los Angeles-based studio Digital Domain, which had worked on The Abyss (1989) and Titanic (1997).
Joana Fomm and Arlete Salles switched roles shortly before filming. Director Marcos Paulo wanted them to portray different characters than what had played before.
The cast watched a segment of Jorge Amado talking about his novel "Sea of Death" in preparation for their roles.
Aguinaldo Silva ultimately disliked working on this series. "I fell into a crisis. I really believed that show was a just rerun of everything I'd done", he said. Director Ricardo Linhares opined that viewers had grown tired of supernatural dramas. "Everything's a phase, and magic realism's phase was coming full circle at that time."
Brothers Felix and Bartholomeu were originally twins, but this was changed when one of the actors dropped out of production.