Filming was conducted at Tamkang High School, New Taipei City, Taiwan, which is also the alma mater of Jay Chou.

In 2007, it received six nominations at the 44th Golden Horse Awards and won Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year, Best Original Song for "Secret" ("不能說的祕密") and Best Visual Effects.

Piano prodigy Ye Xianglun (Jay Chou) lives with his father (Anthony Wong Chau-sang).

His classmate Qingyi (Alice Tzeng) gives him a campus tour, noting that the piano building will be torn down on graduation day.

In the building, he hears a beautiful, mysterious melody ("Secret"), leading him to Lu Xiaoyu (Gwei Lun-mei), another piano student.

He goes to Xiaoyu's home to clear things up, but her mother says she is sick and had dropped out of school a long time ago.

The film cuts to a scene with Xiaoyu, in 1979 (20 years ago), speaking with Xianglun's father (her teacher at the time, at the same school).

Back in the present, Xianglun realizes that the music piece that she showed him was "Secret", and could take the pianist into the past or future if played at the right speed, on the old piano.

The film tells a "simple but very beautiful" love story, which Chou denies was adapted from his personal experiences.

[4] When the film debuted, Chou admitted that he drew from childhood experience for the plot, although his personal story was not as romantic.

[6] Because Chou was worried that people might question if he actually directed the film himself, he even refused veteran director Andrew Lau Wai Keung to visit him during shooting.

[7] Chou added elements to the film to pay tribute to his high school and his favorite composer, Frédéric Chopin.

"[13] LoveHKFilm.com agrees that Chou is not the best male lead for a romantic role, he is not able to produce the range of emotions needed to touch moviegoers.

The critic regards the film as a nice, romantic, fairly good picture and that Jay Chou directs with an able hand.

The critic regards the illogical story as the biggest disadvantage for the film, saying that the plot often does not follow its own rules, creating logical gaps.

The best part of the film according to the critic is the "onslaught of piano performances" that were compared to action scenes of Jet Li and Tony Jaa.

[16] Combustible Celluloid named Secret one of the "most enchanting, captivating features" of the 2008 San Francisco International Film Festival.

[12] On February 15, 2021, it was announced that a Korean remake of the movie would be directed by Seo Yoo-min, and would star Doh Kyung-soo, Won Jin-ah, and Shin Ye-eun.