The film was shot in the winter of 1990 in Tajikistan. Since February 11, the film crew was in the center of the riots in Dushanbe, as a result of which the film administrator Nikita Matrosov was killed, and the film crew was evacuated to Tashkent in military transport.
Italian actor Michele Placido was cast as Bandura due to his role in the television series La piovra (1984), which was wildly popular in the USSR.
The film was released in four parts on television.
The film features songs by Aleksandr Rosenbaum ("Waltz-Boston" and "Black Tulip") and Alla Pugachyova ("Old Clock").