Stories from the set

In the elevator ("They walled us up, the demons!"), the tsar crosses himself with three fingers. Until 1653, Orthodox Christians crossed themselves with two fingers.

The militia arrives to investigate a burglary in a traffic police car.

In the interrogation scene by the militia, Ivan Vasilyevich, when asked about his year of birth, answers: "One thousand five hundred thirty-three from the Nativity of Christ," although Ivan the Terrible was born on August 25, 1530, and the calendar era "from the Nativity of Christ" was introduced by Peter I only in 1700. Before that, in Rus, the calendar era was counted "from the creation of the world." Thus, Ivan Vasilyevich's answer should have been "The year seven thousand thirty-eight from the creation of the world."

The Swedish ambassador does not speak Swedish but German.

The scepter and orb that Bunsha holds in his hands (and which are depicted on the icon) appeared as symbols of royal power a hundred years later than the events taking place, in the 17th century.

Miloslavsky and Bunsha run away from the Streltsy without closing the chest from which they took the clothes. A fallen helmet lies on the floor. When Miloslavsky returns to close the chest, the helmet turns out to be back on the armor.

When Bunsha hides in the chest during the Streltsy chase after him and Miloslavsky, Bunsha changes the position of his body to the opposite one without getting out of the narrow chest.

The film is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's play «Ivan Vasilyevich».

Tsar Ioann Vasilyevich the Terrible in modern Moscow listens on a tape recorder to Vysotsky's song “Eh, raz, yet another time.”

The Crimean Khan really did make mischief on the Izyum Trail in 1571. And such mischief that he burned Moscow in May 1571. The following year the Crimean Khan was defeated at the Battle of Molodi.