Although the film is a North Korean production, director Shin Sang-ok is South Korean. North Korean dictator Jong-Il Kim was a huge fan of Shin's. At the time this film was made, North and South Korea were at war (which eventually ended in 2018 thanks to the Panmunjom Declaration). Thus, Kim had him kidnapped. Shin eventually escaped back to South Korea, but not before he had been forced to make this movie for the erratic North Korean leader.
Not shown outside of North Korea or South Korea for two decades after its release in 1985.
In the early 1990s, the North Koreans attempted to market this propaganda film to foreign countries with no success. Finally in 1998 it got its first international viewing in Japan where it gained a small cult following.
When the Toho staff were brought into make the effects, they were tricked into believing they were making a film in China.
SFX man Teruyoshi Nakano said that after he made a minor complaint about missing Japanese beer to a Korean Staff member, the next morning his hotel fridge was totally stocked with it.