Her features were sharp and Western, which was not what Kim Jong Il, whose preferences were usually followed, appreciated in a woman.

Shin utilized techniques from North Korean mass games to realize the song-and-dance spectacles of the film.

Its liberal view on sexuality, including the first kiss on North Korean screens, was what attracted many people to go and see the film several times.

The popular success of the film even caused illegal ticket re-selling for the first time ever in Pyongyang.

[8] Shin Sang-ok had already filmed the story in 1961 in South Korea under the title Seong Chun-hyang.

The story also had a previous North Korean film adaptation by Yu Won-jun and Yun Ryong-gyu called The Tale of Chunhyang (1980).

[5] Shin started on the work after his previous North Korean film, An Emissary of No Return (1984).

The cast includes Jang Song-hui, Ri Hak-chol, Kim Myong-hui, Son Wun-ju, Pang Pok-sung, Choe Chang-su,[10] and Choi Eun-hee.

They were the polar opposite of the preference of Kim Jong Il, who usually chose stars according to his personal liking.

Paul Fischer, the author of A Kim Jong Il Production, describes the craze caused by the film: Students put pictures of the film's leading man up in their rooms – the first time the picture of an ordinary North Korean other than Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Il appeared on residence walls, albeit unframed and on a separate wall, hidden away – and went home to fantasize not about the revolution but about him, the first North Korean leading man to be allowed sex appeal and tenderness.

[11] It was the first North Korean film to portray romance and expression of love for anything other than the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

[21] Another current in the film according to Lee is a conflict resulting from trying to present the story through the lenses of both Confucianism and socialism.