This short documentary was commissioned by the Chinese Ministry of Railways. Although director Zhang Yimou was asked to select the archival footage, he did not direct any new scene. When the short was released with Zhang credited as a director, he asked unsuccessfully to have his name removed.
The Ministry of Railways spent more than 18 million yuan to produce this five-minute short, an average of 3.7 millions per minute. By comparison, Zhang Yimou's previous feature film, The Flowers of War (2011), an international co-production with expensive visual effects, only cost 4 millions per minute. According to an investigation by the Audit Office, the actual production cost was 6-7 million yuan, and the rest was pocketed. The director of the Ministry's propaganda department was subsequently removed.