A number game
The exterior set of Alamut, designed by Wolf Kroeger, was constructed around the actual 700-year-old walls of the village of Tamesloht, 12 miles southwest of Marrakesh. It required 30 miles of scaffold tubing and 400 tons of plaster, with 350 members of the construction crew. The colourful frescoes and mural paintings which adorn the set were painted in seven weeks. The Alamut Eastern Gate set built at Pinewood Studios designed by Kroeger, required 3,000 eight-by-four-foot sheets of wood, 70,000 foot of three-by-one inch timbre, and 40 tons of casting plaster for moldings. It was constructed in a relatively brief 14 weeks.Copious costumes
Tricks of the trade
The patchwork coats worn by Alfred Molina as Shaikh Amar were made from Indian bedspreads sewn together. Their shredded look, revealing the different layers of fabric, was achieved by rubbing cheese graters across the coats. Other costumes were aged by throwing them into a cement mixer with stones.
Multi-coloured costumes
Costume designer Rose discovered fabrics used for the film's costumes in locales as diverse as India, Thailand, Italy, France, Malaysia, China and, of course, Morocco.
Ben's new clothes
The character who has the most wardrobe changes is not Tamina, played by the beautiful Gemma Arterton, but Nizam, portrayed by Sir Ben Kingsley.
Aim high
The first shooting location for Prince of Persia was at an altitude of 8,200 feet in the mountain village of Oukaimden in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains, surrounded by indigenous Berber communities. The cast and crew had to acclimate themselves to proceed with the demanding action sequences.
Sands of time, indeed
The production battled ferocious sandstorms in Little Fint, outside of Ouarzazate, Morocco.
Heated
Morocco offered a temperature of 100 degrees celsius during production. Massive, air-conditioned tents were erected the size of a football field housing wardrobe, hair and make-up for the film's background players. During filming the crew consumed 1,114,894 bottles of water.
It takes a village
There were a combined 1,350 cast and crew members, including 800 local Moroccans. Adding the 500 people working in post-production, the total cast and crew amounted to more than 1,850.
Different daggers
Some 20 different versions of the dagger, which holds the Sands of Time, were fabricated for the film — from the "hero" version, made of steel — to latex versions, created for stunt sequences.
Armed and dangerous
Armourer Richard Hooper and his department fabricated 3,500 individual items, including swords, shields, spears, axes, arrows, bows, quivers, scabbards, bow cases and daggers.
Snake dude
A local Moroccan was hired to clear the shooting areas in the desert of vipers and scorpions. Donning a T-shirt emblazoned with "Snake Dude," he was easy to spot.
Straight to the source
The film's parkour adviser was none other than France's David Belle (above), who actually invented parkour.
