- Awesome Music: The score composed by David Byrne, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su. Especially Sakamoto's main theme, although Byrne's music plays over the opening credits. Cong Su only wrote one cue for the entire movie ("Lunch.")
- Hilarious in Hindsight: In this film Vivian Wu and Joan Chen play characters who are both married to the same emperor. More than thirty years later they appear together in Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, where they play characters who were both married to the same emperor.
- Jerkass Woobie: Pu-Yi starts as a woobie, becomes a huge jerk (to say it very, VERY politely), then little by little he returns to woobie state. His Character Development revolves around him taking responsibility for being made the emperor of the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo and accepting his role in causing war crimes.
- One-Scene Wonder: Lisa Lu, despite appearing in only one scene, left quite an impression as the dying Empress Dowager Cixi.
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