Colin Blakely, David Suchet, David Kelly and Jean Heywood all speak with distinct Irish accents to emphasize that the characters they play are Georgian, something that distinguished Stalin and Beria from other members of the Politburo.
One of seven espionage related filmed productions featuring actor David Suchet which were made and released around the mid 1980s. The titles include Gulag (1985), Trenchcoat (1983), Red Monarch (1983), A Song for Europe (1985), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), John le Carré's The Little Drummer Girl (1984), and an episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) [See: Prelude to War (1983)].
The scene where Stalin is interviewed by an American journalist played by Carroll Baker is based on fact, but, in reality, the journalist was a man.
The moment near the end when Stalin, thought dead, opens his eyes and a terrified Beria then strangles him is not factual, but derives from a well-known legend concerning the death of the Roman emperor Tiberius. Robert Graves repeats the legend in his "Claudius" novels, and the TV mini-series "I, Claudius" shows Tiberius (George Baker) being surreptitiously throttled by Macro (John Rhys Davies) when he inconveniently proves to be not (quite) dead.