Director Werner Herzog cheerfully admitted that the quote at the beginning of the film, allegedly by Pascal, was completely made up and falsely attributed to give it more weight.
Werner Herzog thought the fires would be burning for months; when he found out they could be out in a few weeks, he hooked up with an experienced English film crew that had gotten permits but hadn't yet decided on the angle to their film.
Director Werner Herzog says he prefers to think of this as a science fiction film, not a documentary.
This film has a 100% rating based on 11 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.