The screenplay by Veli-Matti Saikkonen is loosely based on the play "Postbudet fra Arles" (1974) (Finnish: Arlesin postinkantaja) by a Danish writer Ernst Bruun Olsen. The film also incorporates material from the letters Vincent van Gogh sent to his brother Theo van Gogh, as well as the writings and letters by a French artist Paul Gauguin. The songs composed by Eero Koivistoinen and performed by actor Irina Milan are based on a poems by French poet Charles Baudelaire (translated to Finnish by Aale Tynni, Kaarlo Sarkia and Yrjö Kaijärvi).