At the beginning of the movie, two doctors are examining John Dunbar, and the man standing by the table is Kevin Costner's stand-in.
Because the Su language is more popular, the film changes the Indian Comanche in the novel to the Su ethnic group. Although the dialogue in the Su language is very simple, the available words and pronunciation are quite accurate.
Except for the civil war at the beginning of the movie, which was shot at the end, all scenes in the movie were shot chronologically due to the weather.
At the celebration banquet where the bison was hunted, Dunbar and WindinHisHair became good friends and gave each other gifts. These scenes were shot in the Quantcast mobile home because the weather outside was too cold.
Costner's daughter, Anne Costner, played the "stand-up dance" in her childhood. In her dream, she recalled the scene in which her family members were killed.
Graham Greene played the adoptive father of "Standup Dance Boxing", Keikejin Bird, but Mary McDonald of "Standup Dance Boxing" was actually two months older than Greene.
In order to increase the reality of the film, the crew also hired a linguistics expert to teach actors who can't speak Lakota learn to speak Lakota.
The movie exceeded the budget, and Costner had to personally fund the excess.
