Stories from the set

В титрах в начале фильма допущена опечатка: в слове «исключительно» (во фразе «Совершенно нетипичная история, которая могла произойти только и искючительно в новогоднюю ночь») пропущена буква «л».

Lukashin flies to Leningrad from Domodedovo Airport, although in Soviet times domestic flights on northern and western routes departed from Sheremetyevo-1.

In Moscow, 3rd Stroiteley Street existed from 1958, but in 1963 it was renamed—it is now Marii Ulyanovoy Street, and house 25 on that street is a Khrushchyovka five-story building. In Leningrad, 3rd Stroiteley Street never existed, but from 1955 to 1962 there were two Stroiteley Streets at once: one in the industrial zone of the Krasnogvardeysky District, now called Boksitogorskaya Street, and the other in the Kirovsky District, now called Marinesko Street.

Zhenya throws Ippolit's photograph out the window, and later Nadya picks up from the snow not a photograph of Yuri Yakovlev but one of Oleg Basilashvili, who had earlier been cast as Ippolit and filmed several scenes but had to withdraw from filming because of his father's death. They did not manage to reshoot this shot in time because spring arrived and the snow melted.

«What a disgusting thing this aspic fish of yours is» and «Oh, it's gone warm» are phrases that were not in the film's script. They were Yuri Yakovlev's improvisation.

Eldar Ryazanov played one of his characteristic cameo roles in the film — a passenger on the plane onto whom the sleeping Lukashin keeps collapsing. According to Ryazanov himself, he was very upset when, while watching the filmed episode, he discovered that the shots clearly showed a bald patch showing through his still not-so-sparse hair.

The film was shot in an apartment in a panel building located in Moscow at 125 Vernadsky Avenue. However, this building was constructed according to an experimental design implemented in only three buildings on this avenue. The interior of the Leningrad apartment was filmed in building 113. In 2003, a plaque featuring images of Barbara Brylska and Andrey Myagkov was unveiled on the wall of building 125 on Vernadsky Avenue. However, this plaque is often stolen and has to be restored.

Ryazanov carefully searched for the performers of the main roles. Andrey Mironov very much wanted to play Zhenya Lukashin, but Ryazanov saw him only in the image of Ippolit. Pyotr Velyaminov and Stanislav Lyubshin could also have become Lukashin.

In addition to its television premiere on January 1, 1976, the film was released in cinemas on August 16, 1976.

Best film according to the poll by Sovetsky Ekran magazine in 1977.