The image of Justine floating down the stream with her bouquet was inspired by John Everett Millais' 1852 painting "Ophelia."
Writer and director Lars von Trier admitted to having written the script under heavy influence of alcohol and drugs. But he's said that about many of his films.
Kirsten Dunst was offered the lead role after a Skype session with writer and director Lars von Trier on Paul Thomas Anderson's recommendation.
The painting seen in the prologue is Pieter Breughel's Hunters in the Snow (1565). This painting also prominently featured in Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972). Lars von Trier often stated Tarkovsky greatly inspires him. He even dedicated Antichrist (2009) to the Russian director.
During the Cannes Film Festival press conference for this movie, writer and director Lars von Trier responded to a question about the use of Wagner's music, by calling himself a Nazi, and saying that he sympathized with Hitler. Despite apologizing for his remarks, he was banned from the remainder of the festival, and declared a persona non grata by festival organizers, a first in the history of the festival. In a 2020 interview with French publication Liberation, director Olivier Assayas, a member of the Cannes jury that year, revealed von Trier's comments were ultimately what cost the film from winning the Palme d'Or, leading to the jury opting to reward the film by awarding Kirsten Dunst the Best Actress award and awarding the grand prize to another existential drama involving the cosmos, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (2011). Coincidentally, Uma Thurman, who was also a member of the jury that year, would go on to play prominent roles in von Trier's next two films: Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)/Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013) and The House That Jack Built (2018).