Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 9 September 2001.
The events that happened two days later effectively killed the film's chances of distribution within the United States.

At a screening of the film on 21 January 2003 at the Sundance Film Festival, a woman in the audience verbally attacked the film during a Q&A period following the presentation.
The woman reportedly accused the filmmakers of being anti-American and flung a plastic water bottle.
The bottle hit an elderly man in the crowd on the head. The woman claimed the bottle was intended to hit the screen. The man was not seriously injured.

Ed Harris was initially sent a copy of the sсript with the idea that he would play Sergeant Lee, but he found himself more drawn to the role of Colonel Berman, and was subsequently cast as such.

During the scene in which a tank ploughs through a German town, a stuntwoman was given directions to move out of the way of the tank as it was coming towards her.
She failed to do so, and had to be pulled out of the road at the last minute (the footage of the incident was included in the final cut).
Director Gregor Jordan described the moment as terrifying, as he was convinced that she had actually been run over and killed.