Director Oskar Roehler originally offered Moritz Bleibtreu the role of Bruno, but he turned it down because he thought the role of a sex-addicted loser looked too much like his role in Roehler's previous film Agnes and His Brothers (2004). Roehler gave Bleibtreu the role of Bruno's half-brother Michael instead, casting Christian Ulmen in the role of Bruno. Late into the rehearsals, four weeks before shooting, Bleibtreu and Roehler decided that Bruno would actually be a better fit for Bleibtreu and so Bleibtreu and Ulmen switched roles.
The first letter talking about the move to another grave of the brothers' grandmother says she has to be moved due to the construction of "Bundesstraße 17". Later the gravedigger says it's about "Bundesstraße 7"
In the scene where Christiane is waiting for Bruno's phone call in her apartment, the doorstep onto the balcony is clearly visible. A few moments later when she rolls outside in her wheelchair it has been replaced with a ramp.