The main requirement Strugatsky for the film was the presence of a Soviet director, preferably Alexei Herman, but the director was approved Fleischman. Because of its intractability and serious nature, the Strugatsky stopped monitoring the process of filming and, as a result, they did not like the resulting film.
Peter Ustinov and Kurt Russell were both announced at various stages of pre-production.
An English translation of the film's title would be, "It Isn't Easy To Be A God".