With a budget of $1.8 million, the 4-hour-and-40-minute epic followed the life of Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, leader of the revolutionary Somali Dervish movement. Seven languages were used for film dialogue: Somali, Arabic, Italian, English, and three regional dialects. The movie included an actual descendant of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan as its star, Sheikh Osman Mohamoud Omar, and featured hundreds of actors and extras.[2].