In the traditional legend Marx Augustin was walking around with his bagpipes and singing. In the movie he is mostly playing a Lyre-Guitar.
The novel "Der liebe Augustin - Die Geschichte eines leichten Lebens" (The dear Augustin - The Story of a light life) was released in 1921, 19 years before the movie's release. In the movie it is set in the late 19th Century near Lake Constance, while the movie sets the movie in Vienna in 1680, the actual place and almost the same time when the original legends of Marx Augustin aka "The dear Augustin" are set, Right after the Great Plague of Vienna in 1679. The movie's screenplay was later released by Hanns Saßmann as a novelization called "Der liebe Augustin" in 1941.