While not being an adaptation of the play "Im Weißen Rössl" (The White Horse Inn) by Eric Charell and Hans Müller, there are many references to the famous operetta:
- the plot of both is set around a hotel at Lake Wolfgangsee in Austria
- the actual play is references by name due to the grand piano that is claimed to be played by Ralph Benatzki, the main composer of the play
- Patrick is often singing or whistling the main theme of the operetta, also the score of the movie resembles this song very closely.
- When Alexander meets Patrick he greets him with "Ah, a new face. You are the new cook?" the same way, as Dr. Otto Siedler meets Leopold Brandmeyer by saying: "Ah, a new face. You are the new waiter?"
- An angry businessman from Berlin appears as a character
- A photo of Emperor Franz Joseph I (who is a side character in the play) is shown on the wall, also a man is sitting next to him in a similar pose
- The actual Hotel "The White Horse Inn" in St. Wolfgang is shown and the owner, the "Rösslwirt", appears as a character
- A big guest appears at the end that causes a lot of attention, in the play it is Emperor Franz Joseph I, in the movie it is singer Semino Rossi, who later gives love advise to a woman who is in love, in the play it is Josepha Vogelhuber, in the movie it is Claudia.
Almost all characters have the same first names as their performers, including Sascha Hehn, as "Sascha" is the Russian short version for "Alexander". The only exception is Bodo Bach, while his character is also called "Bodo", Bodo Bach is an artistic figure, performed by Robert Treutel.
The Russian buyer's name is never revealed. He is always referred to as "Der Russe" (The Russian) or "The Russian Customer".
The movie was a huge flop for the station ARD, which is why it had only one rerun in 2010 on the HR Regional station of Hessen. Before release main actor Sascha Hehn was distancing himself from the movie. In an interview to the news magazine "Focus" he complained that the production was cheap, he called it unprofessional "Welfare program" and that he would rather mow the lawn for 15 EUR for anyone than ridiculing his profession in such a production. Many newspapers and websites like "Filmdienst" or "Welt" criticized the bad acting, bad production value and a flat movie, while others mentioned that it is a good idea to revive the musical movies of the 1950s and 1960s. One of the few positive remarks about the movie came from the program director of the ARD itself, Günter Struve, who called the project "a new genre that German Television was missing".
All songs that were presented in the movie were already released prior to the production, mostly in 2007. E.g. Caroline Hat's song "Schokoladistan" was sang by her in the kids singing contest "Kiddy Contest 2007", where she won. Mike Krüger's song "Du sollst nicht immer Spatzel sagen" was released as "Schatzi" in 2008 prior to the movie.