They gleefully break windows and dishes, cackle maniacally, abandon a running truck to drive itself in circles, engineer food fights and cock fights, look at pin-up magazines, set fire to pots of flowers, kill a large pig, torment some blind dwarfs, and perform a mock crucifixion of a monkey.

It was produced during the same time period as Herzog's Fata Morgana and The Flying Doctors of East Africa, and there are visual and thematic connections between the three works.

[1] During the filming, Herzog gave some surprising stage directions to elicit particular performances from the actors.

[1] While filming the scene where a van drives in circles with no one at the wheel, one of the actors was run over, but immediately stood up uninjured.

"[2] The vehicle-in-circles scene was inspired by an incident that occurred when Herzog worked as a steward at the Munich Oktoberfest as a young man.