Producer Augusto Caminito originally hired director Maurizio Lucidi, who shot a few crowd scenes in Venice before the script had even been completed. Caminito decided that the project needed another director and fired Lucidi (paying him his full salary), hiring Pasquale Squitieri to write and direct the picture. However, Squitieri's screenplay proved too expensive to shoot so Caminito decided to stop working with him (he nevertheless paid him his full, hefty, salary). Shooting had already been postponed several times and the Italian TV network which co-produced the film was getting nervous. So Caminito hired a third director, B-movie veteran Mario Caiano, and shooting could start. On his first day, Klaus Kinski got into a violent argument with Caiano and refused to work with him. The director then agreed to leave the set (after being paid his full salary), the third director to leave the picture before principal photography was complete. Facing disaster, producer Augusto Caminito then decided to direct the film himself so he wouldn't have to pay another director. Since he had almost no directing experience, he was helped by his assistant Luigi Cozzi. Kinski also reportedly directed some scenes himself.
Klaus Kinski was supposed to reprise his character from the Werner Herzog picture Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), wearing the same make-up (bald head, chalk-white skin, protruding teeth). However, the actor arrived on the set sporting long hair and declaring that he had no intention of going through painful make-up sessions again. This is why "Nosferatu" doesn't look anything like the original F.W. Murnau-Herzog character.
In two vampire attack scenes, star Klaus Kinski sexually assaulted actresses Elvire Audray and Barbara De Rossi. According to Luigi Cozzi, the script called for Kinski to grab his victim (Audray) and bite her on the neck. Instead, he charged at her "like a wild animal," actually beat her up (for real), ripped off all her clothes and undergarments, and started biting her vulva. Audray fled the set crying and Kinski maniacally screamed "Bitch!" at her as she ran off. Afterward, Audray understandably refused to do any more scenes with the crazed actor, which may explain why she disappears from the rest of the movie. Kinski also apparently manhandled De Rossi during their nocturnal "love sequence" and went beyond the call of duty by ripping off her nightgown, fondling her crotch and then squeezing her breasts very hard.
Amanda Sandrelli originally played the role of Maria Canins, but Klaus Kinski forced the producers to fire her. When Anne Knecht visited her boyfriend Yorgo Voyagis on set, Kinski liked Knecht so much that he forced the producers to 'cast' her. Knecht eventually performed a nude sex scene with Kinski for the film.