the dancer upstairs...

The story is inspired by the Maoist insurgency in Peru known as the Shining Path. Its leader Abimael Guzmán, who was known by the nom de guerre President Gonzalo, was captured in an apartment above a ballet studio in the capital Lima in 1992. The ballet teacher Yolanda was based on Maritza Garrido Lecca, the woman in whose apartment Guzmán was found. Bardem's character was inspired by Benedicto Jimenez and General Antonio Ketin Vidal, the leading figures responsible for Guzmán's capture.

In the beginning of the film, one of the revolutionaries tells a checkpoint security guard that his dead dog's name is Tupac. Tupac Amaru was the last indigenous leader of the Inca people in Peru and Tupac Amaru II was the leader of the 1780s uprising in colonial day Cusco, Peru. (The late hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur is named after the latter).