- Backed by the Pentagon: The thousands of extras were readily available Wehrmacht soldiers dressed in 18th century soldier costumes.
- Creator Backlash: Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (who allowed funds for the film and supervised its "message") wasn't too fond of depictions of war that verge on War Is Hell (for him, war was glorious) and criticized the battle scene at the beginning in particular (the dead men and destructions), finding it "too depressing". Adolf Hitler, meanwhile, loved the whole film.
- Dawson Casting: Frederick the Great was 47 in 1759, and was portrayed by 63-65 year old Otto Gebühr.
- Deleted Role:
- Scenes with Empress Maria Theresa of Austria were cut from the film.
- Also, there were scenes with King of France Louis XV and his paramour Madame de Pompadour that got left on the cutting room's floor.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The film's making stretched from 1940 to 1942. After the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany started in June 1941, the Russians featured in the films weren't felt as "villainous enough", and so reshoots happened to make them more despicable for propaganda purposes.
- Typecasting: Otto Gebühr portrayed Frederick the Great no less than sixteen times between 1923 and this film in 1942. It helps that he was a remarkable lookalike of the king.
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