This represents Werner Herzog's second collaboration with DreamWorks Animation, following Penguins of Madagascar (2014).
The film Orion watched near the start, with its refuse compactor and recycling plant, is strikingly similar to the ending of "The Brave Little Toaster", even down to the compactor’s face being fed by a conveyor belt.
The film depicts Orion as being around eleven or twelve years of age. In the book he is closer to six.
The first city skyline Dark and Orion pass is that of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The first DreamWorks Animation film to make its debut directly on Netflix.
As The Dark transports Orion around the globe, it presents striking aerial views of Mount Fuji and of Bengaluru (Vidhana Soudha — the state government's Legislative Building and the High Court).
The forty-sixth feature film from DreamWorks Animation.
Sean Charmatz's debut as a director.
Sleep closely resembles Mr Robinson from The Amazing World of Gumball. Both characters are blue, hairless and have prominent purplish noses.
The animated film's title was unveiled at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 13 June 2023.
When Orion turns up to observe Dream at work, he slips into the mind of a woman called Irene. This might be an allusion to the song 'Goodnight, Irene'.
Orion’s purported surname is shown on his consent form: Mendelson — or, at least, it appears to be his father’s surname.
