Balaban tells Topo the story about his family home and his father who took him to see the sultan. Later, Decebal tells Elda that the five of the, including Balaban, lived in the janissary barracks as orphans.
The winged hussars, shown as soldiers serving the Italian prince and his commanders against the villagers, were in reality the elite heavy cavalry of the Polish and Lithuanian armies.
The Alps conveniently disappear as the wounded Balaban rides from Vienna in Austria to Trentino in Italy.