In addition to the erotic quality of the film that has raised eyebrows and the protests of the family of the film's real central female character (KMT agent Zheng Pingru), another element is the ongoing argument over which country--China, the US or Taiwan--is the film's country of origin.
除了情慾戲惹人側目、並引起現實中的劇中女主角（國民政府特工鄭蘋如）家人抗議外，《色・戒》的另一個插曲則是它的出品國在中、美、台之間數度更改，爭議不斷。