The film takes place in 1917.
The working title of the movie was "Panzerkreuzer Sebastopol" (Battleship Sevastopol) and suppose to be a contra version of the classic movie "Battleship Potemkin (1925)". It was banned in 1939 after the Hitler-Stalin-Pact but was re-released in 1941 again due to WW2.
According to the opening credits he movie is based on a factual report by journalist and actor Charlie Roellinghoff, who was fighting in WW1 at the Russian front. He died in 1935, two years before this movie.
Tatjana Sais's debut.