The idea for the film came to the writer after watching the ending of "La Dolce Vita".
Only three actors reprised their roles from the original version of the film.
This is the first film of the director's planned "Wasted Youth" trilogy. No characters from this film will appear in the remaining two films.
The title "13 Steps" came after a discussion between the director and one of the actors. They went through 22 different titles before 13 Steps was suggested as a joke.
The documentary in the classroom features a historian. This was simply re-edited footage from the director's college documentary. The audio was reversed to sound more Russian.