Throughout the film, S.S. Colonel Mueller is addressed as ' Herr Obersturmbannführer' (Lieutenant Colonel) but his rank, as indicated by the collar patches on his uniform, is that of a 'Standartenführer' (Colonel).
The principal character is asked to impersonate a recently deceased general from the Della Rovere family. The Della Rovere family was prominent in the Italian Renaissance, producing two popes and numerous members of nobility. But the family became extinct two and a half centuries before the time in which the film is set.