Trivia / House of Flying Daggers

• Actor-Shared Background: Zhang Ziyi is an accomplished dancer like her character Mei.
• California Doubling: The final battle was filmed in the Ukraine.
• Completely Different Title: The original title translates as Ambush From Ten Directions.
• Deleted Role: After Anita Mui passed, her character was removed from the script.
• Died During Production: After Anita Mui's death, Zhang Yimou felt that recasting the role would be disrespectful, so the film's second half was heavily rewritten to downplay her role of the Flying Daggers' leader.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Mei's She-Fu moves come from the fact that her actress Zhang Ziyi is a trained dancer but has no martial arts training.
• Shown Their Work: The song that Mei sings in her first dance for Jin is an ancient poem set to music. It warns of the dangers of overindulging in female beauty, and acknowledges the hurt of a lasting love.
• Throw It In!:
  • The climactic battle had already begun filming when it suddenly started snowing in Ukraine. They then decided to roll with it, giving the visual impression of a battle that began in Autumn and ended in Winter.
  • Yimu Zhang put in the battle sequence in the bamboo forest because he felt it was traditional for a martial arts movie.
• What Could Have Been: After Anita Mui passed away, filmmakers considered recasting her role with either Brigitte Lin or Michelle Yeoh. Ultimately, they decided that recasting would be disrespectful.