In order to portray this character well, Zhang Wen (playing Dafu) went swimming every day. He previously did not know how to swim, but because swimming and diving are his character's strong points, he became an expert swimmer. He also visited an autism school every day, working to understand the students' way of thinking.
Jet Li wants this film to get a good message across and promote the works with autism as well as the works of his charity 'The One Foundation'.
It was announced that it was to be released in spring 2010, but the release date was pushed back to 24 June 2010, which opened the 2010 Shanghai International Film Festival on 2 June.