In 2016, China recorded an impressive annual output of 334 TV dramas, with a cumulative 140,000 minutes of content. But most of the espionage-themed tales were set in the years before the founding of the People's Republic of China and depicted underground agents of the Communist Party of China.

"Few are set in the modern era," recalls scriptwriter An. "This creates a challenging situation for us as we have no similar productions to learn from."

He recalls that he worked on the script for more than a year between 2016 and early 2017, injecting the plot with traditional Chinese values about brotherhood, parenting and romance. This approach has given the hero a distinctive, swashbuckling flair.

Most of the action sequences were shot on a soundstage in Yizhuang, Beijing. The outdoor scenes were filmed in Busan and Seoul in South Korea, and some areas in Malaysia, as well as Tianjin in China. Around 50 international actors from multiple countries, including Sweden and Russia, were cast to play the security organization's staff and the show's villains, some of whom could speak Chinese fluently.

"China's fast development in the film and television industry makes it more convenient for production companies to cast foreigners," Gao explains. "Interestingly, most of the foreign actors recommended by our casting team are students who are studying at Chinese colleges.

"But for us, The Dance of the Storm is more like an experimental work. After reviewing the market feedback, we believe we still have a long way to go in exploring how to be successful in the modern espionage genre," he concludes.