Michelangelo Antonioni's segment was filmed in English. It was later dubbed into Italian after hostile critical reactions at initial test screenings.
The masturbation scene played by Luisa Ranieri was judged too strong for the Italian audience and the French producer of the film imposed 3 minutes of cuts on the episode "The Dangerous Thread of Things" directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. On the incriminated sequence, Ranieri explains: "It was one of the first scenes, Antonioni made me understand that I had to strip naked and get on the bed and touch myself. I had no intention of doing it, but then he convinced me ...On the set I was rubbing my eyes, I'm not doing a hardcore movie I said to myself. It was a shock. After that I got sick and threw up. "
Pedro Almodóvar was originally set to direct the third segment, but bailed at the last minute. Steven Soderbergh stepped in at the last minute.