To create the effect of the wind making waves through the crops in the field outside the cabin in the woods, Tarkovsky had two helicopters land behind the camera and switch on the rotors when he wanted the wind to start.
Wintertime scenes in the Mirror echo paintings by Pieter Bruegel, "Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap" and "The Hunters in the Snow".
Tarkovsky's own comments about the film reflect how special the film was for him: "As I began work on Mirror I found myself reflecting more and more that if you are serious about your work, then a film is not the next item in your career, it is an action which will affect the whole of your life. For I had made up my mind that in this film, for the first time, I would use the means of cinema to talk of all that was most precious to me, and do so directly, without playing any kinds of tricks."
Goskino, the USSR State Committee for Cinematography, did not allow it to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The managing director of the festival, Maurice Bessy, was sympathetic to Tarkovsky. Upon hearing that Mirror would not be allowed to be shown in Cannes, he unsuccessfully threatened not to take any other Soviet film.
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