It was also called Dolgan-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Долгано-Ненецкий автономный округ), by the name of the indigenous people Dolgans and Nenets.

Following a referendum on the issue held on April 17, 2005, Taymyr Dolgano-Nenets and Evenk Autonomous Okrugs were merged into Krasnoyarsk Krai effective January 1, 2007.

The city of Norilsk, even though it is geographically located within Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, was administratively subordinated directly to Krasnoyarsk Krai prior to the merger.

During the opening moments of the film, Baryshnikov's character Nikolai Rodchenko – a Soviet defector – is on a passenger plane that crash lands at "Norilsk Air Base".

He later is taken into the home of Hines' character – a US defector – and his wife (played by Isabella Rossellini), where they advise him that he is in Taymyr upon regaining consciousness.