About the film-making Sven Nykvist writes in his book: "The actual recording was adventurous and could have cost me my life if misfortune had been there. The movie was about a lonely sailor on a small boat, actually built for two persons. Often we ended up working twelwe men on this small boat on an open sea with big waves. [....] My bad hearing on my right ear due to my illness is usually not to my benefit, but so it was at one point. We would film one mast wreck outside Perth in Australia and it had to be realistic waves around the boat. We set out into the high sea with several boats and several cameras to be sure not to miss the picture. I would be the one that gave the signal to the director when we were in the right position so that the cameras could be started.
Jarrott, however, felt so bad in the high sea and was so nervous that he yelled "Cut" (stop) instead of "Action". The crew on the sail boat believed that his "Cut" meant "folding", and so they let the mast go down the drain. I, who only saw his jaw movements, took it for granted that he gave the green light and started my camera, while the others photographers never launched their. Luckily my screenshot worked and we didn’t have to reshoot the scen. Sometimes there are pictures that are not so easily recaptured". (p. 150).