Chung Ling Soo was a stage character created by William Ellsworth Robinson, a white man who disguised himself as a Chinese man to cash in on audiences' enthusiasm for the exotic. Robinson lived as Chung, never breaking character while in public. He died in March 1918, when a bullet-catch trick went wrong. There is doubt about his last words. They were either "My God, I've been shot" or "Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain." Either way they were both his last words and the first English he had spoken on stage in nineteen years.
The word "prestige" originally meant a trick, from the Latin "praestigium", meaning "illusion".
Nikola Tesla was a world-renowned inventor, physicist, and engineer. For a while, he conducted electrical experiments at his lab in Colorado Springs, where he was also known for his eccentric behavior.
The editing includes one hundred forty-six time jump cuts, in which the next shot either flashes back or skips ahead to another time period of the storyline. This averages to almost one timeline jump per minute of movie.
Alfred Borden's infant was played by one of writer, producer, and director Sir Christopher Nolan's children.
Ricky Jay: Milton, a stage magician. Jay, a Guinness record holder, magic historian, and accomplished close-up performer, does not usually perform stage illusions.