"The Lovers" was produced by Paul Breuls' Corsan NV, Dale G. Bradley's Limelight International Media Entertainment, Wei Han's Bliss Media and co-financed by Ajey Jhankar's Neelmudra Entertainment. Sales outfit Corsan World Sales, a division of Corsan NV, is handling international sales. Previously known as "The Invaders", the film was in works from the late 1990s and was due originally to feature Hollywood actors Brendan Fraser and Neve Campbell and Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vivek Oberoi. The Anglo-Indian historical romance is Bipasha Basu's first English language film. She was encouraged to take up her international debut by actress Hilary Swank. Basu first met up with Swank at the New Seven Wonders of the World Official Declaration ceremony convened in Lisbon in 2007 and met her again at the 2011 International Indian Film Academy Awards in Toronto. Though originally planned for shooting partly in the United Kingdom, production began in Queensland, Australia, on 8 November 2010. It concluded there on the third week of December 2010. The production then moved to India on 31 March 2011 for a further five weeks, roaming the rocky terrain of Chambal, Orchha and Gwalior in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Principal photography wrapped on 23 April 2011. The film was planned to premiere at the 65th annual Cannes International Film Festival in May 2012, but in late 2011 the production company was placed in administration and all further filming was stopped when some ten percent remained. In June 2012, Belgian-based financing and production outfit Corsan agreed to put further money into the production, and the final scenes were to be shot in London. In September 2012, it was reported that the filming in London was finished, while some creditors were still waiting for payment. And in May 2013, producer Paul Breuls confirmed that the film has been finally completed and aims to launch it at an autumn festival.