Filming began in St. Petersburg on location shortly before the Russia-Ukraine war outbreak. Locations in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Marseille were originally planned for the filming of the movie. Due to the strict corona virus restrictions in Germany and France, filming began in St. Petersburg in January 2022. Like many others, the entire film crew on location was surprised by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and it was no longer possible to bring the film's predominantly Russian crew to Kiev, Berlin and Marseille due to the prevailing political upheavals. As a result, filming was restricted to St. Petersburg, where it was completed as quickly as possible under the most difficult conditions.
Part of the studio sets were built in disused rooms of the legendary Wawilov Institute of Optics in Saint-Petersburg, where research on optical systems had been carried out since World War I. On the floor of the abandoned laboratories, the team found shards of experimental glass filters that cinematographer Sven Jakob-Engelmann attached in front of his lenses to enhance the dreamlike atmosphere of the film. Professor Igor Plaksin, a veteran VFX-artist who worked in the Lenfilm Studios since the 1980s, made special analog trick lenses at the director's request because Andreas Marschall wanted to use as few digital effects as possible.
Many of the flashbacks in black and white were shot on Fomapan analog Super-8 film.