Despite rumours and the film, the Red Mendelssohn is varnished with burgundy rather than blood. Stradivarius used red varnish on numerous other violins from 1704 to 1720, the so-called "golden period", and other red-coloured violins besides the Red Mendelssohn survive. Director François Girard opted to make a film about a violin due to his belief that "Making film is making music". The concept of a history of a violin was the starting point, with Girard not initially realizing the project would call for five languages or an unusually large budget. His screenplay, written with Don McKellar, sees the eponymous instrument travel over greater distances, while the years separating each segment become shorter. This suggests a musical structure, though Girard said this was not planned and only developed as he and McKellar continued to write. Girard and McKellar proposed their story and project to various Hollywood companies, but were unwilling to give up creative control, or to limit the number of languages spoken in the film, as U.S. companies requested. As a result, they produced the film with Rhombus Media. The film is an international co-production, allowing for a larger budget to be accumulated from various sources, making "The Red Violin" one of the most costly Canadian films produced to date. Its final budget was $15 million. Girard and McKellar employed a few crew members from their previous film, "Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould" (1993), including cinematographer Alain Dostie, editor Gaétan Huot and actor Colm Feore. The co-production also allowed for shooting in Canada, China and around Europe, including the cities of Vienna, Shanghai and Montreal. Girard, McKellar and producer Niv Fichman went location scouting at the beginning of production, visiting Prague and Hong Kong and meeting writers who helped correct foreign-language dialogue. Ultimately, they decided they needed to film in Vienna and Shanghai to properly depict those cities. Lord Frederick Pope's estate was Chicheley Hall while his concert were filmed at Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford University. In Cremona, Italy, Girard visited violin-making schools and met some people who made the instruments, recruiting some as extras. The most challenging part was securing permission from the government of China to simulate the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai, with Fichman travelling to China seven times before the government allowed shooting, which took place only five days later.