It is based on the book L'espion qui venait d'Israël (English: The Spy Who Came from Israel), written by Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat.

After having befriended people who would eventually take over Syria,[8] Cohen is appointed as the country's Deputy Defense Minister and becomes a close confidant to the future president Amin al-Hafiz.

Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall writes, "Baron Cohen couldn’t have found a role more well suited to his gifts and career to date.

The Spy is a thriller played entirely straight, but it also feels like Baron Cohen’s persona with vastly higher stakes.

According to former Syrian President Amin al-Hafiz, he never met Cohen in Argentina, much less befriended him, and the office of "Deputy Defense Minister" did not even exist in Syria at the time.