At the time of the film's release, the hot air balloon actually used in the night crossing was kept in an "Escape Museum" inside Checkpoint Charlie in West Berlin, Germany.
In the film the flight path of the night crossing went from east to west, but in real life the night crossing did not go in that direction; it went due south.
The freezing conditions in the Bavarian Mountains created various problems for the production. Compressed steam was used to burn ice off the snow fields. Snow was also swept from icy roads. In addition, trees had to be painted green to reflect the seasonal September look.
Some posters carried the following long opening text: "The East German border: 836 miles of barbed wire walls, automatic machine guns, armed guards and deadly land mines. On 15 September 1979 two families tried to cross the border. Night Crossing. A true story."
The vehicle license plates used East German numbering, but were stamped from West German DIN standard blanks with West German plate spacing. The plates were only produced for a short time after German reunification, which resulted in an unintentional historical inaccuracy.
