The film was originally planned to be made in English under the name "Helen", with Elena, Vladimir and Sergey called Helen, Richard and Dan, respectively. Andrey Zvyagintsev dropped the idea when he realized working with an English producer meant "overcoming the issues of the creative method, of the language of cinema." Soon he proposed the script to Alexander Rodnyansky and the next day after Rodnyansky read it, he phoned Zvyagintsev and said, "Let's start." Zvyagintsev thanked Rodnyansky in a later interview for sharing his views.
According to Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena Lyadova's performance was so amazing that towards the end of filming, he wished her role was bigger.
The block where Elena and Vladimir live is in Khamovniki, a prestigious district in the central Moscow. As of 2012, one apartment in that block cost around 10 million dollars. (Their apartment itself and its outside view, however, were filmed indoors, with artificial trees.) The block where Sergey's family live, and the power plant, are in Biryulyovo Zapadnoye District in the southern outskirts of Moscow. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev concealed the locations by replacing the street signs for the time of filming.
The deleted scenes are described below:
- Elena walks down a hospital corridor crying quietly, then stops at a window and fights back her tears.
- Lilya talks to Elena on a mobile phone while in bed, then gets up (she is shown wearing an undershirt and men's boxers), hugs and kisses her boyfriend who is watching a documentary with Slavoj Zizek on a laptop.
- Vladimir watches a documentary about a locust infestation on a flatscreen in his hospital room while it's raining hard in the street.
- The lawyer visits Vladimir in the hospital. Vladimir's room is shown from outside and we can't hear them talking.
The name of Vladimir's character was picked by Oleg Negin and Andrey Zvyagintsev on purpose because it is generally thought in Russia to mean "owner of the world" (although its actual etymology is different).