Due to the harsh economic conditions in the late 1980s Soviet Union, Yuriy Ozerov was unable to secure funding for his film inside the USSR. After deliberations, he approached the American Warner Brothers for assistance. The company agreed to provide financial support, but demanded that American actors would be given representation. The reluctant director had to cast Powers Boothe for the title role of General Vasily Chuikov. The film was the first Soviet-American co-production in the Perestroika era.
Soviet Army soldiers and officers were extras.