In a revised first draft of the script, co-Writer Martyn Burke had Jessie set to be a six-month-old male Border Collie. This idea was later dropped, and Jessie was made an adult female instead, to give the audiences more sympathy for the main character.
The ten dogs provided in this movie came from Fircroft Animal Actors, located in Ireland. The Border Collie who played Jessie, was named Spice, and the Rottweiler who played Pincher, was named Astro. They were owned by their trainers, Mary Owens, and Rita Moloney.
At twenty-two million dollars, this was one of the most expensive television movies ever.
Appropriately for the subject of a critique of Communism, the songs of the movie follow the themes of well known Soviet songs: "Beast of the World" is a parody of "The International", "Glorious Leader Napoleon" takes the pace and music from "V Put" (Let's March), and the "Song of the Grateful Duck" is modelled after "The Cossack Song".