In an abandoned hotel, the crew waits for money to arrive or a sign from vanished producer Gordon.

Wenders hired much of the cast and crew to make The State of Things, including lead cinematographer Henri Alekan, the noted photographer of Jean Cocteau's 1946 motion picture Beauty and the Beast.

After completing the filming in Portugal, Wenders flew to Los Angeles to shoot the final scenes before continuing work on Hammett.

The soundtrack includes original music from Jürgen Knieper, as well as tracks from Joe Ely, X and The Del-Byzanteens.

Although the film The Survivors, which the crew is shooting during the opening of The State of Things, was repeatedly called a remake of either Day the World Ended or Most Dangerous Man Alive by reviewers and encyclopaedia,[2][3] it bears no close resemblance to either except for the post-apocalyptic scenery.