The Last Samurai soundtrack marks the 100th feature film score produced by composer Hans Zimmer.

While Captain Algren isn’t a real historic person, the flashbacks he has of the Indian massacres of innocent and weaponless women and children actually did happen on November 28, 1864.

Over 2,000 costumes were created for The Last Samurai.

Filming in New Zealand created 400 temporary new jobs for New Zealanders. In addition, there were over 600 Japanese that served as extras for the movie. 75 of the extras were hand-picked Japanese New Zealand residents that underwent only two weeks of intense training in order to become the core Samurai warrior group for the film.

50 horses with no background in film were purchased and underwent several months of training for their appearance in The Last Samurai. Some scenes, like horses getting shot with arrows, utilized visual effects for the final results.

The shooting crew for The Last Samurai was comprised of over 1,000 people.

The first battle in the movie showed Samurai attacking through the fog in the forest. Historically, this was a preferred way for the Samurai to attack because the sudden quickness and intimidating armor struck fear in opponents, giving the Samurai an instant advantage.