 In Algiers, the Hotel St. Georges and the central square were filming locations, while Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was used for the ballet scenes.Marcel Bozzuffi performed his own stunts wrestling on the "Kamikaze" vehicle due to the production's lack of budget for professional stunt performers.Costa-Gavras chose "Z" as the title of the film based on its common occurrence in Greek graffiti, for "He lives" (or even "Lambrakis you live; be our guide!"